Bluesky Surges as Steampunk Creators Abandon X/Twitter

Steampunk authors and other creators appear to be abandoning X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — in droves, with many landing on Bluesky, a Twitter alternative that launched to the public in February. This appears to be part of a larger trend as Bluesky says it has gained 1.5 million users since the Nov. 5 Presidential election in the U.S.

The exodus from Twitter began after Elon Musk acquired the company in October 2022. Musk instituted controversial changes, including mass layoffs and changes to moderation policies. One result has been an increase in hate speech and disinformation on the platform, critics say.

Facebook has long been the most popular social media platform for steampunk fans. But prior to Musk’s takeover, many science fiction and fantasy authors, including prominent names in steampunk, had large followings on Twitter. Numerous steampunk musical acts were also active on the platform.

By the Numbers

Since The Steampunk Explorer launched in 2018, we’ve used Twitter to follow the activities of creators in the steampunk world, and we can see the platform's decline, at least in our corner of the X/Twitterverse, in our own numbers.

In October 2022, we were following 107 Twitter users who had some kind of connection to steampunk — mostly authors, but also musical artists, cosplayers, event organizers, and others. Since then, 17 of these users have shut down their accounts and 15 have stated that they are no longer active on the platform. Of the remaining 75 users, only 35 have posted since Nov. 1.

Some creators who have left X/Twitter have made their reasons clear.

“I’m out of Twitter, just too much meanness,” wrote science fiction and fantasy author Cat Rambo in an Oct. 21 post. Rambo, who had more than 27,000 followers on X/Twitter, has been posting on Bluesky since May 2023, when it was still in a private invitation-only beta. She now has about 5,300 followers there.

Sci-fi and alternate history author Harry Turtledove also moved on. “I’m done,” he wrote in a Nov. 3 post. “You know who killed this place, same as I do.” Turtledove had about 33,600 followers on X/Twitter. He’s been posting on Bluesky since mid-October and has quickly amassed more than 11,000 followers.

Other authors who have moved from X/Twitter to Bluesky include Cherie Priest, Nisi Shawl, George Mann, Diana Pho, Nikki Woolfolk, and R.A. McCandless. Musicians who have left X/Twitter include Professor Elemental, Steam Powered Giraffe, and Unwoman.

The Steampunk Explorer has also left the platform. We share the concerns expressed by other users, and with the departure of so many creators, it isn’t as useful to us as it was previously.

Why Bluesky?

Some former Twitter users have also moved to other Twitter alternatives such as Mastodon and Threads (The Steampunk Explorer is on all three platforms). But Bluesky, which originated as a project within Twitter, seems most similar to the Twitter of old.

Users also seem to like the control they get over their feeds. Bluesky allows users to create custom feeds that they can share with others. For example, we’ve created a feed showing recent posts from steampunk authors and another showing recent posts that mention steampunk.

In June, Bluesky introduced a feature called “Starter Packs” that makes it easier to find accounts to follow. We’ve created two: “Steampunks on Bluesky” lists close to 100 authors and other creators on the platform, whereas “Steampunk Adjacent” lists accounts related to science fiction, fantasy, horror, and 19th century history.

As of Wednesday, Bluesky claimed approximately 15 million active users, which is still a fraction of the X/Twitter and Threads audiences. However, that’s a big leap from the 9 million users the platform had in September. Threads claims 275 million active monthly users. Twitter claims more than 500 million, though independent estimates place the number far lower.

Previous coverage: The Steampunk Explorer Joins Bluesky