US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the first Bluesky user with a million followers

On Monday, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) became the first individual account with a million followers on Bluesky. The decentralized platform has seen a spike in adoption since the US election, with its user base tripling within three months. As for the reason why, AOC wrote about Elon Musk’s X in a recent post, “People are leaving Twitter because it’s not fun anymore and no one is obligated to be on a platform they don’t enjoy. It’s not rocket science.”

AOC has been active on the platform long before its post-election surge, posting 437 times since joining the platform in April 2023. “Waitress turned Congresswoman for the Bronx and Queens,” her profile description reads. “Grassroots elected, small-dollar supported. A better world is possible.”

Bluesky’s account is still the most popular on the platform by far, with nearly 17 million followers at the time of publication. But AOC’s audience of 1,032,729 users is the most of any individual. The next closest are George Takei’s 862,646 followers and Mark Hamill’s 797,541. As it turns out, starring in a legendary “Star…” franchise and having witty, sharp and socially conscious takes pays off.

The top publication is The Onion (769,718), followed by The New York Times ( 762,499), perhaps illustrating that satire is today’s most trusted news source. Shameless plug: You can follow Engadget on Bluesky, too.