Topline
Elon Musk’s purchase and overhaul of Twitter has spooked some users and advertisers alike, triggering a digital succession crisis as an array of networks compete for fleeing users who have yet to settle on a single platform that could become one of the next big internet forums.
Elon Musk took over Twitter last year.
Key Facts
Threads. Meta’s long awaited Twitter rival is slated to launch Thursday and appears to share many features like ability to like, share, post and repost content. A key selling point will be its deep integration with Meta’s photo sharing app Instagram, and screenshots suggest users will be able to keep their usernames and easily follow the same accounts on Threads.
Bluesky. This invite-only app was founded inside Twitter in 2019 by the platform’s cofounder Jack Dorsey and was spun off in 2021, and has attracted famous users like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and model Chrissy Teigen. It takes a decentralized approach to social media that gives users more control over their data and what content they see. Visually, it looks a lot like Twitter and has many of the same features, though it does not currently support direct messaging, live streams or video.
Post News. Created by former Waze CEO Noam Bardin and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Post News rushed to capitalize on the Musk-induced chaos happening at Twitter in November. It brands itself as a new way of thinking about the relationship between publishers and social media, with a focus on how the former can generate money using micropayments, and it has a number of high profile publishers on board though some basic features are missing as it is still in a testing period.
Mastodon. Released in 2016, Mastodon is one of the older and more populated Twitter alternatives out there. It’s open source and functions similarly to Twitter (users “toot” instead of “tweet”) and had an influx of new users when Musk took over Twitter. but rather than a monolithic platform features a decentralized network of many social networks linked together, each of which can have a say in the rules and policies governing it. Unlike many other popular social platforms, Mastodon is a nonprofit.
Spill. Designed by a pair of former Twitter engineers and launched in December, this newer competitor is open to all but is geared towards creating a safe space for marginalized communities, especially Black and LGBTQ+ users. Spill is supposed to be more visually engaging than other platforms and offers tools that let users easily combine text with images, GIFs and videos. It drew a surge of interest after Twitter’s recent decision to limit the number of posts users can see.
Hive. This mobile-only app was launched in 2019 but generated a lot of buzz on social media after Musk took the reins at Twitter. It has similar features like following other users and posting and content. Crucially, Hive claims to be free of the algorithms that determine what kind of content you see on other platforms and content shown on its main channel is reportedly just in chronological order.
Spoutible. This app launched in February out of Bot Sentinel, a Twitter analytics tool for tracking harmful or fake accounts. It describes itself as a “safe, inclusive, and enjoyable online space” that has a “zero-tolerance policy for targeted harassment, hate speech, disinformation, and platform manipulation.”
Key Background
Twitter has faced headwinds since Elon Musk purchased the company for $44 billion last year. The billionaire Tesla CEO has slashed headcount, reinstated banned accounts, eased moderation policies, fundamentally altered the platform’s verification rules and changed the algorithms determining what users see on their timelines, moves that have spooked many advertisers and sent users in search of alternatives. Each fresh hiccup at Twitter—such as the decision to throttle how many tweets users can see per day last weekend—has pushed some users into the arms of its rivals, such as Mastodon, which has been reporting regular spikes of new users in line with each new issue at Twitter. Though the exodus has likely benefited Twitter’s competitors, no one platform has yet emerged as a genuine threat to Musk’s firm in terms of numbers and popularity. Musk has claimed in recent weeks that usage of Twitter remains high and many major advertisers have returned, though U.S. ad revenue has reportedly fallen.
What To Watch For
Many of Twitter’s bigger rivals can probably be classified somewhere between an upstart vying for its users or an established platform that has historically had a rather niche appeal. The upcoming release of Meta’s product is a development to watch, however, and will be being monitored closely by those at Twitter. Compared with other platforms fighting for Twitter’s users, Meta comes to the race armed with an already-established and immensely popular social network and gargantuan pile of resources to draw upon. The company, which grew out of Facebook, also has a storied, if not always successful, history of lifting features from competitors. This includes its short-form video feature Reels (which draws from TikTok), community chats (which draws from Discord) and disappearing video and photo feature Stories (which draws from Snapchat).
Further Reading
Meta’s Twitter Rival Threads Will Launch Thursday As Chaos Continues On Elon Musk’s Platform (Forbes)
Twitter is a mess, so former employees are creating Spill as an alternative (TechCrunch)
