Elon Musk, right, with Donald Trump on stage at a campaign rally ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
X is out, Bluesky is in and Mastodon is for the birds – and the nerds. The fight for the top spot in an ever-evolving social media landscape is political.
The social media landscape has shifted dramatically, with platforms like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon growing quickly as alternatives to X (formerly Twitter), which has struggled since Elon Musk’s acquisition two years ago.
The Detail looks at the different platforms, who’s in, who’s out and who to follow, talking to two tech and social media experts – Dr Neil Curtis, an associate professor of media and communication at Auckland University, and independent tech specialist Allyn Robins.
Curtis recently quit X for Bluesky.
“It’s the classic consumer choice model, if you don’t like something you don’t consume it,” he told The Detail. “So that is what I was doing, in my tiny little way I was supporting Musk, and I didn’t want to support him anymore.”
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for US$44 billion (NZ$74 billion), and renamed it X.
It is a social networking service, one of the world’s largest social media websites, where its 586 million users can share short text messages, images, and videos in short posts commonly known as “tweets” or “retweets”. It has become increasingly right-leaning.
Threads (by Meta) was launched in July 2023 and initially attracted users quickly due to its Instagram integration, but has faced user retention issues. It now boasts about 275 million users, and avoids news and politics, focusing on lighter content.
Mastodon appeals to tech-savvy users and has grown to nine million accounts but retains a steep learning curve, making it less accessible compared to competitors.
And the popular new kid on the block is Bluesky, which originated from a Twitter initiative. It prioritises customisation with features like tailored algorithms and moderation tools. It is a more left-leaning environment for users, which have grown to 22 million in recent weeks – many of whom have left X.
Users have been turned off by Elon Musk’s close relationship with Donald Trump, and the “increased tolerance for harmful content and reduced content moderation”, Curtis says.
Even major news sites, including The Guardian, have joined the X exodus over the past month.
“It’s very unusual because [news sites] have held out for such a long time,” Curtis says.
“The big one is The Guardian leaving, I’m presuming this may encourage others to do so. I think a lot of other news sites will realise it’s not the place for them.
“Twitter really is the anathema to journalism … it used to be the ideal for journalism, where you could give people information – real information – about the world and spread it as quickly as possible.
“Now you are in space that is flooded with disinformation and by being there you are supporting the disinformation, so journalists want to get out.”
On the flip side, some businesses and corporations are returning to X, with Musk having the ear and support of the Trump administration.
“But also, the Texas attorney general is looking to start litigation against any company that has withdrawn its advertising from Twitter. We live in such an insane world.
“But yes, businesses will be flooding back because they survive on profit, and they will go wherever the profit goes.”
Bluesky has seen a huge number of sign-ups in recent weeks.
Photo: AFP / Matteo Della Torre
Allyn Robins, who does not have an account with X, Threads, Mastodon or Bluesky, says the social platforms are here to stay but will evolve to stay relevant.
That includes Bluesky, which has become the darling of social media users in recent weeks, with the promotion of being a decentralised platform, which gives users more control over their data and content.
“The landscape on social media is changing a lot, and social media apps must evolve over time,” Robins says.
“Bluesky is very much in the growth phase.
“All these kinds of platforms, these apps … they have a phase where they have to grow, and they have to attract users however they can, and they will be very user friendly during that time because they are trying to grow their user base.
“That’s the way to make money in the future and they will haemorrhage money being very, very nice to use and work with. But at a certain point they have to make money and Bluesky has not hit that point yet, but it will. So don’t join it assuming it’s going to be like it is now forever.
“Never rely on any of these platforms to stay the place that they are, the experience that they are, when they are growing. They just can’t in terms of the business model.”
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