Those who flee sign up for Bluesky and Threads, valid alternatives to X. Beyond the numbers, it is still early to decree the end of Elon Musk’s social network. We have already looked at Bluesky once as the new promised land. A land that has remained mostly uninhabited.
To be precise it is the second exodus from Elon Musk’s social network. The first began when the billionaire had bought the platform in November 2022. Despite the political farewells, in the end X had held up, remaining in the lead among the news apps most downloaded by users. Users who have tolerated content violentoffensive memes, misinformation first about the war in Ukraine, then about the conflict in Gaza, and all Musk’s provocative posts which at some point appeared everywhere to anyone. Then the American elections arrive, the billionaire openly takes sides and uses social media as propaganda machine to support the Republican Party. Trump winsMusk is appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency, and the day after the election 115,414 users deactivate X.
The list of farewells is long, politicians, newspapers, singers, actors, directors, journalists, artists, decide to cancel X, it is a political act. Leaving Musk’s social media is one form of protest against the exploitation of platforms. Those who close the social network are faced with two alternatives: Threads and Bluesky. Both recorded a spike in new enrollments after the US elections and are currently competing for first and second for the most downloaded free apps in the United States.
However, it is still early decree the end of Xas the first exodus in 2022 showed us. Social media will certainly not be “the app for everything” (as promised by Musk), after all it never has been, but it could remain a solid outpost for far-right conspiracies, propaganda and bad taste meme.
Why singers, politicians and newspapers are abandoning X: “We invite you to do the same”
How many people have deactivated Musk’s social network
X did not provide data on the big farewell. According to the metrics announced by the company last week it would have recorded 942 million postsa historical record. David Carreditor of news insights and research at Similarweb, confirmed to NBC News that traffic on X peaked during the election. The problem was the next day. In fact, on November 6, 115,414 accounts deactivated X, “the highest abandonment rate since Musk bought the platform”, explained Similarwrb. The same day, searches for “delete X” on Google Search increased by 150%and they are continuing to grow.
Under Musk, X lost an average of 14% of its users per month, yet the number was balanced over the two years by new subscribers. As Sensor Tower explained to Fortune: “While X has experienced this prolonged decline in active users in the U.S., in recent years it has also seen a notable increase in new usersi.e. those who previously did not have an account on X”.
What are the alternatives to
About ten years ago, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defined Twitter as “a clown car that ended up in a gold mine“. And when Musk announced the purchase of the platform Zuckerberg enlisted 15 engineers to build a clone of XThreads. It didn’t take off after launch, and yet it might have a far-sighted move. And in fact Adam Mosseri, CEO of Threads, declared in a post that the platform has recorded more than 15 million registrations in November alone.
In fact, anyone who decides to leave X already finds two alternatives ready to replace Musk’s platform: Threads and Bluesky. Both platforms debuted last year and are currently competing for first and second place in Apple’s App Store for the most downloaded free apps in the United States.
The Rise of Bluesky
Subscribers on Bluesky have doubled in the last 90 days, the company said Tuesday 2.5 million new users in the last week alone, bringing the total number of subscribers to over 16 million. Prominent journalists have deleted X and created accounts on Bluesky, including Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic, Mara Gay of the New York Times and former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Bluesky is the Twitter he would have wanted Jack Dorseyformer CEO of the social network. It’s the real competition, same interface, same blue, even the typing inputs are the same. The big difference lies behind the scenes of social media: it is decentralized. This means that beyond the moderation of content in the hands of users, the social network also allows people to maintain control of their data and choose the algorithm which manages the contents displayed. Users will in fact have access to “an open market of algorithms”. It’s like choosing a search engine to have more control over the content that will be displayed.
Considering that the farewell to X was caused (mostly) by an algorithmic system that promoted violent, racist or misleading content, Bluesky could really be a valid alternative. However, it is not certain that the exodus consecrates its rise. We have already looked at Bluesky once as the new promised land. A land that has remained mostly uninhabited.
