The left-leaning virtue signallers on social media are easy to spot.
They're the ones who announce, in a rather grand and portentous manner, that they are leaving X (formerly Twitter) because of the platform's alleged shift to the right, or what they consider to be a new and 'toxic' environment created by the site's owner Elon Musk.
Personally, I found a lot of tweets obnoxious or unbearable long before Musk bought the business, but I continue to stick with it because it's a useful platform for breaking news and gathering and sharing information.
Furthermore, it's quite easy to mute or ignore much of the unpleasant 'noise' it attracts from ALL corners of the political spectrum.
At least, since Musk took over, it does feel like a genuine platform for free speech, but that comes at a price – being exposed to views and opinions you may not agree with and possibly find abhorrent.
Another factor is that X has far more users and therefore a much greater reach than other similar sites.
For example, I have read that at the start of this year X had an estimated 240-300 million daily active users. In comparison, Bluesky had 3.2 million daily active users.
I don’t see those numbers aligning any time soon. Nevertheless, it is true that some people and organisations have deleted their X accounts and moved to Bluesky, which some say is a more friendly environment and others say is an echo chamber for the 'progressive' left – the very people who used to control Twitter.
Unsurprisingly this includes several members of the public health community, some of whom clearly felt very uncomfortable on X.
Take, for example, the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training which took to X in November to announce:
We’re closing our X account; it’s a toxic media platform & Elon Musk has used it to shape political discourse. Thank you to our 1.8k followers. Find us on BlueSky (which is like Twitter used to be) https://bsky.app - search for NCSCT – please do sign up and follow us there
That's quite a statement for a taxpayer-funded organisation that ought to be above petty politics.
Interestingly, however, the response from their followers on X may have surprised them. Here are some of the comments:
I'm really sad to see you go! How do we fight misinformation if we stay in a bubble shielded from it?
That's too bad. I like it here. It's where everyone is. Your reach will be slim there compared to X!
It seems that whoever made this decision has made it based on political ideology, which is disappointing. I thought this account would be here to help everybody, regardless of politics.
Seriously disappointing. The message of supporting and promoting smoking cessation should be shared on every platform irrespective of political affiliation.
And so on.
As it happens, the NCSCT's X account hasn't been closed but nor has it been updated since November 14. Curiously, though, I can't find an NCSCT account on Bluesky, which is a bit strange.
Other organisations that have defected to Bluesky include the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, part of the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR) at the University of Sheffield.
Individual public health campaigners who have left X and moved to Bluesky include Prof Robert West, Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology at UCL. West had 11.5k followers on X and currently has 1.7k on Bluesky.
Another absconder is our old friend Simon Chapman, Emeritus Professor of Public Health at Sydney University, who told his followers on January 1 that he was closing his X account 'in February' because he was 'sickened by what Musk has turned it into'.
I'm over at @Bluesky with lots of you already following. It's VERY easy to join (download the Bluesky app) and works like the Twitter of old. A troll free zone. Join me.
It may be very easy to join but Chapman currently has 750 followers on Bluesky compared to 12.5k on X. Moreover, almost two months after his solemn declaration of intent, he's still on X, retweeting the likes of Rory Stewart.
One public health campaigner whose X account is currently locked and described as 'inactive' is Professor Martin McKee, a member of Independent SAGE, and past president of the British Medical Association.
Today, if you want to follow McKee on social media, you'll need to switch to Bluesky where he has a healthy 10.3k followers, but still far short of the 43.1k followers he had on X.
For that reason, perhaps, many more individuals and organisations appear to be hedging their bets by setting up accounts on Bluesky whilst keeping their accounts on X active, at least for now.
This latter group includes ASH, Fresh, British Medical Journal, Royal Society for Public Health, and the Tobacco Control Research Group at Bath University.
Individuals who have decided to do the same include Hazel Cheeseman, CEO of ASH; Dr Sarah Jackson, UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group; and Nick Hopkinson, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College, London.
Perhaps I should take a leaf out of their book but I'm not sure I can be bothered maintaining yet another social media account.
I'm on X. That's enough. I don't need another platform to feed my addiction!