Eric Braeden & Maura West Among Several Soap Stars Joining Bluesky, Social Media Platform Reaches 20M Active Users (2024)

Bluesky has quickly emerged as the social media platform of choice for those defecting from X (formerly Twitter) in the weeks following the U.S. Presidential election which saw former president Donald J. Trump declared President-elect Trump, soon to become the 47th president of the United States, and a change in X’s terms of service that went into effect on Friday, November 15, which allows the service to analyze text and other information provided by users to help in the “training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models.”

Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis, “General Hospital”) was one of the first major soap stars to flock to Bluesky immediately following the election, saying to her followers at the time, “I am here now as I can no longer defend speaking on a site controlled by a dangerous meglamaniacal [sic] oligarch.” She added, “My pg, my rules so trump supporters will be blocked. This is a safe space 4 those of us in need of a place to commune with like hearts & minds & humor when we can find it again.”

Like her postings on X, Grahn continues posting about topics near and dear to her on Bluesky and has thus far amassed more than 5,500 followers since opening her account on November 6.

You can follow Grahn on Bluesky by clicking here (@nancyleegrahn.bsky.social).

On Sunday, November 17, “The Young and the Restless” star Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) informed his more than 190,000 followers that he would cease posting on X and would instead be found on alternate platforms, including Bluesky and Threads.

In response to one of his X followers, Braeden said, “Since this billionaire [Elon Musk] bought TWITTER, I can’t abide the brazen looting of America by his billionaire buddies!”

“[Musk] wants to cut the budget by 2 trillion dollars; where do you think that’s come from? From SOCIAL PROGRAMS, like SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, while giving huge tax cuts to BILLIONAIRES!!” Braeden continued in his posting, citing President-elect Trump naming Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy as the leaders of what’s being called the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”).

According to President-elect Trump, in announcing DOGE, the non-government agency will “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement.” Additionally, it will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never before seen.”

Furthering his point, Braeden noted, “We are all distracted with bs! It’s BLATANT! That’s why I am moving onto other platforms! Can’t take the obvious grift anymore! And the appointments of crooks and very questionable characters to top positions in that FRAUD’S cabinet!!”

According to Braeden’s final post on X, his official handle on Bluesky is @ericbraedenyr.bsky.social, NOT eric-braedenyr.bsky.social, which is an imposter account mirroring the actor’s social media postings. Do not follow that account even though it has more followers (at press time).

To follow Braeden on Bluesky, click here (ericbraedenyr.bsky.social).

Am now on bluesky at ERICBRAEDENYR

— Eric Braeden (@EBraeden) November 17, 2024

Although no direct correlation can be attributed to the U.S. election or X’s T.O.S., other soapers joining Grahn and Braeden onto the butterfly app include Maura West (Ava Jerome, “General Hospital”), Tina Huang (Melinda Trask, “Days of our Lives”), Yvette Nicole Brown (“General Hospital,” “Community”), Christie Clark (Carrie Reed, “Days of our Lives”), Colton Little (Andrew Donovan, “Days of our Lives”), Ryan Quan (writer, “Days of our Lives”), Michele Val Jean (executive producer/showrunner, “Beyond the Gates”), Christopher Sean (Paul Narita, “Days of our Lives”), Rebecca Staab (ex-Elizabeth Barrington, “Port Charles”), William deVry (ex-Julian Jerome, “General Hospital”)), Sara Bibel (writer, “Beyond the Gates”), Charles Shaughnessy (ex-Victor Cassdine, “General Hospital”), Martha Madison (Belle Black, “Days of our Lievs”), Greg Rikaart (Leo Stark, “Days of our Lives”), Emma Samms (ex-Holly Sutton, “General Hospital”) and Nadia Bjorlin (ex-Chloe Lane, “Days of our Lives”), among others.

In a post alerting her more than 88,000 X followers on Saturday, November 9, West revealed she had joined Bluesky, saying, “Moving to Bluesky … same @ there… If you’re already there, lemme know! Xxo.”

To follow West on Bluesky, click here (maurawest.bsky.social).

In addition to the aforementioned talent, several soap opera-specific news outlets hav also joined Bluesky, including Soap Opera Network, Soap Opera Digest, Soap Hub, Daytime Confidential, Michael Fairman TV and Soap Opera News, among others.

Among the five daytime soaps, “Days of our Lives” is the first to have an active account. Just weeks earlier, the soap opera officially joined TikTok.

As for mainstream news organizations, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Orlando Sentinel and New York Daily News and Variety are just some of the online/print publications that have joined the platform while CNN and NPR are among the few broadcasters who’ve also made their way over.

Note: While many individuals, publications, outlets, and business entities have created Bluesky or alternate social media accounts, there aren’t any official indications that they will cease operating their X accounts. That said, on Tuesday, November 19, Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, announced the platform has since amassed 20 million active users. By the end of October, Bluesky had just 13 million users.

“We’ve been adding over a million users per day for the last few days. To celebrate, here are 20 fun facts about Bluesky,” said Graber on the platform’s growth in such a short period. To read the facts list, click here.

For a list of noteworthy accounts to follow on Bluesky thus far, check the list below.

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