Where do we go after X/Twitter?

What do we need

In terms of criteria, we want to make sure the platform we choose has a genuine sense of community where we can connect with our audience but also a space which provides users with reactive news/discussion or even just good memes (not the 9gag ones from 2014 that Elon Musk posts which have artificially inflated engagement).

We want to avoid existing in a vacuum, we want to be able to reach people with our work but we also want to balance that goal with the consideration the yuck that comes with big tech.

Threads

Speaking of big tech, Meta can smell blood with X dying a slow death and have launched Threads, a platform that feels like what you’d end up with if you if Instagram and Twitter could produce a child.

Its initial launch had limited features, some of which have now been introduced, but most of the hype seems to have tapered off. It’s janky dependency on Instagram means we’d be having to manage two platforms which is not a vibe, so it’s probably a no from us.

Mastodon

We like it. We use it. But it has a very small number of active users at the moment — 1.7 million monthly active users according to them vs the 225 million of Twitter. It will be a platform we aim to use, but we need to supplement it with a something that can provide a wider scope for exposure.

Tumblr

I haven’t brought this up with the team yet, but I think we should unironically consider it 👀.

Bluesky

Built by former Twitter employees (with former CEO Jack Dorsey on the board), Bluesky seems to be the platform experiencing the most migration as of late. Although it may still have lower active users than even Mastodon, it seems to have the most potential to become a sustainable alternative, with a spike in sign-ups after Elon Musks latest announcement about charging users for X.

What did we decide?

We haven’t really decided anything yet. It seems that a lot of alternative platforms are vying for the market share that will eventually be up for grabs with X’s inevitable demise. It’s too soon to tell who has the best product so it seems like we’re going have to wait.

The loss of digital Third Places

With that being said, being in this limbo seems to have raised a pessimism in me that makes me sound like a boomer, but hear me out. I can’t help but feel that digital spaces such as social media have fallen victim to the same patterns we see with physical spaces.

I remember watching this informative and entertaining video essay by Elliot Sang talking about the decimation of Third Places (spaces where you go if you’re not at home or working).

Nowhere to Go: The Loss of Third Places

After the hyper-commodification of real estate in the last few decades, it makes it harder for younger generations of the present to afford access to spaces where they can socialise. There was once a time when it used to be $4 to go bowling.

I think we’re experiencing the same shift in our digital spaces, with the change in direction from X being driven by revenue-raising interests, birthing an axiom within the discourse about the glory days of Twitter where it was a genuine community that even led to people connecting in physical spaces.

But that seems far enough in the past to spur a sense of nostalgia. At least we have the Metaverse to look forward to.