SafetyDetectives Cybersecurity Team
Published on: September 24, 2023

The transformation of X (formerly Twitter) into one of the biggest social media platforms in the world has been remarkable. This short-form, text-based app experienced rapid growth, going from 60,000 tweets a day in 2007 to 65 million tweets daily only 3 years later. Today, at least 20 million tweets are sent out every hour.

The platform’s main allure was the ease by which users could share messages and updates. Originally, the idea was described as creating a social network where people could send SMS-like messages to a larger group. This was reflected by the original 140-character limit, which was another of its unique selling points.

X also paved the way for the popularity and use of hashtags. They made following topics and communities easier, which also allowed businesses to capitalize on trends and niches to promote their brand.

In the years since, X has undergone many changes, and additional features have been rolled out left and right. Many of those were well-received and took on quickly, such as the ability to quote tweets or pin them to the top of profiles. Other updates were more divisive, including the extended character limits and Twitter Fleets, a feature that was eventually discontinued.

The most notable change in recent times, however, was Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in October 2022. Since then, the platform’s growth, stability, and reliability have been called into question. The takeover might be the final straw for some users who were already frustrated with the platform and were looking for alternative networking sites.

While the platform is arguably still essential for many people’s daily news updates, interactions, and connections, let’s see if we can find some alternatives.

X At a Glance

In January 2023, the app recorded 556 million monthly active users. However, the recent controversies that plague the social platform, and the consequent misgivings of users, might be setting it up for a downward slide.

On July 23, Musk and his team announced his plan to rebrand Twitter, changing its name to X and promising to incorporate “comprehensive” capabilities, including banking, payments, and more.

It didn’t take long for Twitter users to respond with uproar to this new development. Similarly, Fortune and Times have been quick to publish takes explaining that this move will vaporize the company’s brand value, losing billions in the process. Meanwhile, The Washington Post says this change is a reason to mourn.

Filling X’s shoes is no easy task. The fast-paced conversations and easy engagement with brands, celebrities, friends, and family have brought people to the platform for almost two decades. For many, it has also become a source of entertainment, news updates, and value-adding information. Users even consider it an outlet for thoughts and opinions.

In May 2021, adults in the US listed entertainment, information, and expression as the main reasons why they use X. Users with at least 20 monthly tweets had a more consistent and even distribution among the answers, while bigger gaps were observed in the responses of lower-volume users. Specifically, only 29% of low-frequency users agreed that they use X to voice their opinions.

Despite X’s continued fame, forecasts expect to see its worldwide user base drop by around 9% in 2024. While predictions are unclear as to the likeliest causes for the platform’s decline, popular suppositions point to Musk-initiated policy changes as one of the key factors. Some updates that have received dismal feedback include the subscription-based X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue) for profile verification as well as the recently implemented tweet viewing limit.

Additionally, worldwide visits to Twitter.com saw a 7.3% year-on-year (YoY) decrease in March, the third straight month of activity decline, according to Similarweb estimates. The platform also recorded 6.4 billion web visits in April 2023, down 500 million from January 2023.

Of the nearly 400 million users on the app in 2023, 69% of them are male, while those between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute 57.12% of the platform’s user base.

X Alternatives

With the future of X on the balance and many people scrambling to find a suitable replacement, other social media platforms have the opportunity to augment their existing user base and get ahead of the competition.

Meta’s Facebook was the most popular platform in 2022, claiming a 72.93% share of the social media market. X and Instagram (also owned by Meta) came in distant second and third place with a market share of 8.3% and 6.8%, respectively.

Aside from the leading platforms named in the graph above, other competing X alternatives include Mastodon, Cohost, Post, Plurk, Minds, Bluesky, and Threads — Meta’s newest text-based social app.

On average, 62% of social media users across various platforms are male, while female users account for 38% of the total.

Facebook

Facebook is a social media platform that allows users to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses. It keeps them in the loop about the latest news and celebrity updates. People can interact with brands through business pages — where they can purchase from their shops and leave reviews — or buy and sell with fellow users through the Marketplace.

As one of the oldest social media platforms that are still active today, Facebook is consistently pressured to adapt to emerging trends and technologies. X’s upsurge in popularity was one of the reasons that compelled Facebook to make some interface changes. For example, it adopted hashtags in 2013 to sort topics and included a “follow” option that kept users updated on other accounts’ content without needing to add them as friends.

Over the years, Facebook has made several changes to its algorithm, many of which did not sit well with users. For instance, the platform started showing users significantly more advertisements and promoted content, making timelines more disorganized. Also, instead of being filtered chronologically, the algorithm began to display posts based on a user’s predicted interest.

Despite the hurdles, Facebook remains the most active social media platform worldwide. Its monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2023 equate to 2.99 billion or 37.2% of the world’s population. This value represents a YoY increase of more than 50 million users.

Much of its continued success could be attributed to its ease of use and constant innovation. Despite its tendency to go overboard with system changes, Facebook ensures that it stays ahead of the curve by incorporating new features whenever the opportunity arises.

An example of its more recent updates is the Community Chats for Facebook Groups. Other tried-and-tested functional features include event organizing, crisis response, and fundraising.

Around 71.3% of Facebook’s users are between 18 and 44 years old, making it the demographic that is most prevalent on X.

Facebook does not allow children below 13 to create an account. Thus, if we consider only those old enough to use Facebook without violating its terms, the data suggest that 47.6% of all people aged 13 and above already have Facebook accounts. This means that, statistically, this platform is one of the most suitable alternatives to X, with the added benefit of a wider reach.

Facebook is most popular in India and the United States, with 369.9 million and 186.4 million users, respectively.

Advantages of Facebook

• Facebook has more features — such as Pages, Groups, and Marketplace — making it a more versatile social site than X.
• Facebook has over five times the number of users X has, offering a broader reach.
• Facebook does not have a cap on the number of photos a user can add per post, whereas X limits it to four images per tweet.
• Facebook’s target marketing — with its siblinghood to Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook Live — is more effective than X.
• Facebook offers more content-posting features than X, such as background visuals for text posts.

Disadvantages of Facebook

• The number of ads on Facebook can be distracting and off-putting, making it less enticing to use.
• Facebook’s numerous ethical and privacy controversies in the past may be a deal breaker to individuals who are conscious about their online safety.
• Facebook’s algorithm allegedly fosters division and polarization in the real world.

Reddit

Reddit is currently the most popular forum and message board on the internet and the 20th most visited website in the world. It is a hub for a multitude of online communities, popularly known as subreddits, that cater to various interests. It was created and envisioned as “the front page of the internet,” where like-minded individuals can openly discuss different topics.

Individuals can join any subreddit they are interested in. Each community has its own set of rules, and moderators can expel users who violate those policies. People can share text-based posts, images, or photos on any subreddit. Other users can then reply to the post or rate it with downvotes and upvotes. Posts and replies with more upvotes get boosted to the top of the page, getting more exposure.

Reddit is integrated into 1% of all websites, resulting in a social widget market share of 4.1%. In contrast, X has a 52.8% market share, as it is used by 13.4% of websites. Despite not being as popular as X, Reddit still boasts consistently high demand.

In addition, Reddit.com activity averages 1.7 billion monthly visits and 52 million daily active users, with almost 50% of traffic coming from the US. Other countries where Reddit is most popular include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

The platform is also male-dominated, with female users accounting for only 29% of Redditors. Meanwhile, the 25–34 age bracket leads the platform’s demographics at 31.33%.

With such high numbers and relative freedom of speech, Reddit is one of the preferred alternatives to X, especially for users looking for more sustained discussions.

Advantages of Reddit

• Reddit enables users to reach people of similar interests, regardless of where or who they are. Unlike X, where only the algorithm has a say in who sees your posts besides your followers, Reddit allows individuals to join any subreddit.
• Subreddit topics can be either generic or highly specialized. This allows people to get in-depth feedback and perspective from others that may not be as accessible on most other platforms.
• Users can choose to use a pseudo username and email address to log into the site. Only your username is displayed when you post, keeping your personal details off the platform. This enhances your anonymity and reduces your vulnerability to online fraud.
• Reddit’s rating system shows what people like and dislike. This makes it easier to find relevant and value-adding posts or comments.

Disadvantages of Reddit

• Reddit’s moderation can be unpredictable. Many accounts have been banned or suspended unjustly.
• Reddit is not as widely used as X in some countries.
• There’s little accountability. Reddit’s online anonymity also allows bigotry and hatred, providing a platform for people to share those ideas. Site moderation is not instantaneous, so inappropriate subreddits often go undetected for long periods and reappear under different titles when taken down.

Mastodon

Mastodon was created in 2016 as a decentralized series of global social networks that communicate with each other. It works using “instances,” which are servers hosting groups of people with similar interests.

Much like Reddit, the group interests could be as specific as a discussion about a trend or as broad as a geographic location. Additionally, moderation also differs from group to group.

The main difference is, being decentralized, people do not sign up to the platform directly; they only join the servers run by groups or individuals. This makes Mastodon attractive to privacy-conscious users who prefer non-proprietary (free and open-source) software.

Mastodon allows any user to create a server where other people can join. Also, individuals are allowed to follow other users, send direct messages, track hashtags, and react to posts. In this vein, this platform closely resembles the interface of X. Mastodon also has a post limit pegged at 500 characters.

Mastodon’s user base peaked in 2022, after Musk’s “Twitter” takeover, totaling 2.5 million registered user accounts in November. In only 8 months, that number grew by over 545%, reaching 13.63 million users.

Mastodon records around 100,000 new registrations every week, though it experiences sporadic upticks in activity and interest. In mid-2023, the top 2 hit counts happened on July 2 (30,632 hits) and July 17 (37,867 hits). This coincides with news of Elon Musk announcing view limits on X and reports of the “bird app” losing half of its ad revenue.

A similar increase in Google searches for Mastodon was observed on July 2, 2023.

Between April and July of 2023, Jamaica showed the most interest in the platform. Google searches for Mastodon originating from this country towered over all the others, with China (the country with the second-highest interest score) affording the platform barely half as many searches.

Similar to Reddit, Mastodon is more popular among young men, with over half of the platform’s user base falling in the 18–34 age group, and 72% of all users identifying as male.

Advantages of Mastodon

• Mastodon is controlled and moderated by individuals or groups, not a single corporation. Each server’s rules cater to its community’s conventions and interests; there are no blanket rules or policies like there are on X.
• Being free and open source, there are no ads or sponsored content on Mastodon, and the platform doesn’t track or store user data.
• Mastodon allows you to make your own app. It has comprehensive API documentation that makes it easy to develop the interface and programming language.
• Mastodon content is displayed chronologically, not presented by an algorithm or determined by the number of “likes” a post gets. This system makes it easy to find posts.
• Mastodon’s independent servers can block content from unwanted servers, protecting its users from some of the biased or offensive rhetoric present on other platforms.
• Users are allowed to edit their posts and can set auto-delete timers.

Disadvantages of Mastodon

• Mastodon’s interface is more complicated than X’s. There may be a steep learning curve in navigating the site.
• Interactions on Mastodon may be limited to those on your instance, making the reach relatively smaller.
• Users can’t search the whole of Mastodon for a topic. Server administrators can restrict search engine access, making it difficult to find information on a topic or the right community. Hashtags are also not universally accessible.
• Because there’s no central server, instances can be unreliable. Users may experience server downtimes or complications if something happens to the hardware or the people who manage it.

cohost (beta)

cohost is a social media platform for simple content sharing, much like a typical blogging site. It doesn’t use algorithms, collect data, or sell ads. Also, there are no character limits to your posts, and you can create co-owned pages. Overall, it has the feel of an experimental site channeling the original nature of social media: just you and your friends.

This platform allows you to sell your content and merchandise or have other users subscribe to your page for a fee. As such, individuals must be at least 16 years old to use cohost, and those under the age of 18 need the written consent of a legal guardian to join.

Registration is generally free, but a cohost Plus! subscription costs 5 USD per month. The subscription’s main purpose is to help developers fix bugs and improve the software, but it also affords users certain perks. For instance, subscribers can upload up to 10 MB and access more account customization options.

While the site is functional, some features — like the monetization “tip jar” — were still in the works as of mid 2023. There’s also a brief waiting period (2 days, last we checked) before you can start posting and commenting after you sign up. After all, it’s still in its beta phase.

cohost receives sporadic spikes in interest, mainly from the USA. While it hasn’t yet been able to maintain steady interest over long periods, cohost is still fairly well-known. Per the platform’s latest update at the time of writing, it has 130,000 registered users and 12,000 monthly active users.

Less than a quarter (22%) of its users are female, with male users making up 78% of its base. Interestingly, it’s one of only two platforms dominated by the 18–24 age bracket.

Advantages of cohost

• According to its policy, cohost doesn’t sell ads; any ads or promotions on the platform come from users’ content.
• There are no character limits to posts.
• cohost is more flexible than other social media platforms. Some users have taken advantage of the CSS capability (Cascading Style Sheets — a language that enables users to create a webpage presentation) available on the platform to develop mini-games playable directly on their profile.
• You can create a co-owned page for community-centric projects like fundraising or a marketplace.

Disadvantages of cohost

• Without an invite, signing up requires verification to prevent spam. This can take a few days. You can browse the platform and set up your profile, but you can’t post.
• There’s currently no cohost app. You can only access it using your web browser.
• cohost is a work in progress, so its programmers admit that many desirable features are still missing. Still, they are trying to implement them in ways that don’t imitate X and other algorithm-based platforms.

Instagram

Instagram is a media-sharing platform that’s also under Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. Thus, like Facebook, it comes with some trust, privacy, and tracking issues. Yet, it’s the fifth most visited site in the world and the most active social media platform in terms of engagement.

Instagram has a user base of over one billion (1.28 billion in 2022) people worldwide, and predictions suggest it’ll continue to rise. Between 2020 and 2022, the platform noted an inflow of 240 million new users. By 2025, it’s predicted to have 1.44 billion active accounts.

While Instagram still has more male users than females, the ratio is comparatively more balanced than in other social media networks (52% males to 48% females). Like cohost, this platform also has the majority of its users in the 18–24 age bracket. In fact, nearly 70% of its demographic are millennials or younger.

Instagram recorded the most traffic from India, totaling nearly 230 million users (around 16% of the country’s population). The US and Brazil placed in distant second and third place with over 143 million and 113 million users, respectively. This means that about half of the population in these two countries is on Instagram.

Notably, however, data published at the beginning of 2023 revealed that Turkey — fifth on the list of countries with the most Instagram users — recorded the most time spent on the app. It logged an average of 21.24 hours a month per user in 2022.

Instagram has a different feature set from X. Its focus on creativity and lifestyle over news and opinions makes it a better marketing platform for many brands to engage with their audience. Also, its emphasis on visual content over text-based posts makes it appealing to users who prefer expressing and consuming content through imagery.

Advantages of Instagram

• Instagram has more functional features than X, including Instagram Reels, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Live.
• You can use up to 2,200 characters to caption images and videos, and up to 60 characters for Notes.
• Instagram Stories have more potential for retaining user attention than a tweet feed. You can view your friends’ most recent content, like watching a slideshow, with just one tap or click to switch between Stories.
• Instagram Notes can serve as another resource to grasp user attention. A clever line and some fun emojis next to your profile picture can easily prompt a reaction or a profile visit from your followers.
• Instagram’s algorithm rewards creative content more (with 46% of users saying they prefer creative posts) than X does (with only 34% of users favoring them).
• Brands and business owners can easily schedule posts using the Meta Business Suite.

Disadvantages of Instagram

• Instagram’s web browser client doesn’t have robust functionality. Since the platform is heavily mobile-app-based, it fails in the device flexibility that both X and Facebook have.
• You can only reshare someone else’s content through Instagram Stories, which disappear after 24 hours.
• Instagram may have mental health repercussions on some users, who subconsciously compare themselves to the often fabricated and out-of-context snapshots of other people. This may lead to depression, anxiety, self-deprecation, and other issues.
• Users’ timelines are often filled with targeted ads that aggregate data from your use of various Meta platforms.

Post

Post is a social networking site created to “be a civil place to debate ideas, learn from experts, converse freely, and have some fun.” The platform allows users to pay for news articles from publishers and independent writers, charge for their creative works, and tip other creators. There are also free and pay-to-read articles. Naturally, the platform is populated by journalists, writers, photographers, artists, and other creatives.

There are no character limits on the platform, but you must post a minimum of 280 characters to monetize your content. Additionally, content on the site is highly moderated because it’s more professional than other platforms.

Post’s user base is relatively small, as the platform started operations just in November 2022. Still, registered users can write posts, comment, like, share, and repost content with their own takes (much like X). The only caveat is that, like cohost, there is a waiting list for registration.

While Post’s gender distribution mimics X’s, its age demographic is relatively well-spread. The 25–34 age bracket accounts for the highest share of users, but other age groups aren’t far behind.

On the other hand, the disparity in its regional distribution is more apparent, with the US leading at 86.02%.

Currently, Post is like a less formal LinkedIn — one with a more relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. If it can grow its base while maintaining the respectful and constructive environment it has now, it can be a strong contender for the best X alternative yet.

Advantages of Post

• The interface is easy to use.
• There are no character limits.
• You can monetize your content through a paywall, so other users have to pay to view your posts.

Disadvantages of Post

• You must join a waitlist to sign up, which can take a week or more.
• There’s no two-factor authentication.
• Post’s mobile app is not available for Android users.

Plurk

Plurk is a free microblogging and social networking site based in Taipei, Taiwan. It has a 360-character posting limit, and posts appear in chronological order. That platform scrolls vertically on a mobile device, but it has a horizontal scroll when viewed on a desktop browser. This interface might take a bit of getting used to, but it provides a unique edge to the platform.

Users in Plurk can use hashtags to follow ongoing topics. They can also send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links.

Additionally, the platform employs a karma system, which features plurks with higher karma points. A higher karma also gives you more emoticons and identifiers, like a different Plurk Monster. You earn karma by being active on your account and when people engage with your content. Unfortunately, you can lose karma by being inactive for long periods or for something as arbitrary as a declined friend request.

Plurk is most popular in Asia, with Taiwan alone accounting for 78.23% of the user base. Furthermore, male users form 66% of the demographic, and people between the ages of 18 and 34 comprise 69% of the registered accounts.

Plurk is fun and colorful, but it needs to grow its user base to be considered a reliable alternative to X. That said, recent Google searches show that interest in the platform peaks frequently. One such event occurred on July 2. Like Mastodon, Plurk seems to have benefited from Musk’s announcement of view limits on X.

Advantages of Plurk

• Plurk allows anonymous posting.
• Users can modify their account’s interface using CSS and HTML scripts, allowing them to make it a better representation of their content and personality.
• The platform’s interface and features work differently from other networks, which could be visually refreshing.
• The karma system could make using Plurk feel like a game, making it more engaging.

Disadvantages of Plurk

• The limited international audience can make it challenging to find a community outside of Asia.
• Plurk’s karma system requires you to consistently interact on the platform, which could feel like an obligation after a while, discouraging you from continuing to use it.

Minds

Minds is an open-source, decentralized social networking platform built around creators getting rewarded for their content. The site has a clean, straightforward interface that closely resembles Facebook.

This platform has an online currency called MINDS Token (ERC-20) linked to the Ethereum blockchain. You earn tokens if your content is popular or by referring friends to the site. Alternatively, you can purchase tokens using Ethereum or US dollars. Tokens can then be used to boost your content or tip other creators.

Free speech is a cornerstone of the platform. Its content policy is based on the First Amendment, and the platform is governed by a community jury whose aim is to minimize bias and censorship. If disagreements or negative discourse occurs, and sober discussions fail to resolve the conflict, a committee of a few random users decide what action to take.

Like other platforms of the list, Minds has significantly more male users than females (66% vs. 34%). However, it has a broader spread of users by age, with one of the highest quotas of users above 55 years old.

Despite being a somewhat niche platform (catering mainly to users interested or versed in Blockchain), Minds experiences regular upticks in interest.

Moreover, it has a relatively well-distributed regional interest, with the US leading at 39.68%, the next four countries totaling 31.03%, and other regions taking up 29.29%.

Advantages of Minds

• Its freedom-of-speech-oriented content policy is focused on encouraging healthy discourse online.
• You can directly earn real money (by exchanging your tokens for US dollars) for your content, not just from views or sponsorships.
• With Minds’ Boost system, users can spend earned or purchased points to increase views or pay other channels for exclusive content.
• You can use your earned tokens to upgrade to Minds Premium or Minds Plus, which increases your earnings potential.
• You can post in short-form (text, video, or image formats) or long-form (blog-type).
• Minds allows users to set a “Your tags” line-up of topics you’re interested in, which mimics X’s “Lists.”
• Minds gives you comprehensive data on how your account is doing through its analytics.

Disadvantages of Minds

• Integration with tokens and cryptocurrency can be difficult to understand.
• You can’t add filters to photos and videos.
• The user base is small, limiting the capability of Mind’s main feature — earnings.

Bluesky

Bluesky is a micro-blogging social platform that was originally conceptualized to work alongside X, serving as a blueprint for the latter to adopt a decentralized, open-source framework. It was announced by Jack Dorsey, ex-CEO of Twitter, in 2019 and launched in February 2023. But, since Musk’s takeover, Bluesky has functioned independently of Twitter/X.

This platform closely resembles X’s interface, complete with a sidebar containing “Home,” “Notifications,” “Profile”, and “Settings” tabs. It also has a “Discover” tab that suggests content and people to follow. Additionally, users can use custom handles.

A unique feature of Bluesky is the capability to build custom feeds. Users can follow various algorithms that contain different types of content. Then, they can select feeds to pin to ensure their favorite topics or trends appear first upon logging in.

Since Bluesky’s app is still in its beta phase, registration is invite-only. Yet, downloads have been steadily increasing since its launch. Although its monthly downloads dipped from April to June, it bounced back steeply at the start of July, coinciding with the introduction of Meta’s Threads. On July 7, 2023, Bluesky reached 1 million cumulative downloads.

That said, Bluesky may still have a long way to go in terms of building and maintaining interest. Despite its parallels to X, its invite-only system is possibly a significant roadblock to gaining more traction among online users.

For instance, its interest score peaked on July 2, much like Mastodon and Plurk. Yet, Google searches for the platform quickly dropped afterward.

Current estimates for Bluesky’s demographic show its male population at 46% — the only platform so far that’s dominated by female users at 54%. However, its age distribution reflects that of other social networks, with a leading 25–34 age bracket.

Advantages of Bluesky

• Since Bluesky is pioneered and managed by Twitter’s ex-CEO, it’s most likely to resemble the user experience Twitter offered.
• Bluesky is open-source and decentralized, which gives privacy-conscious users peace of mind when using the platform.
• Its custom feed feature allows you to curate your timeline and ensure that you consume content you’re genuinely interested in. This also gives you more control over how the platform’s algorithm caters to you.

Disadvantages of Bluesky

• The platform is still invite-only, so getting access to it might be tricky. There’s also a waitlist for registration.
• Since Bluesky is still in the works, it lacks some basic features, such as hashtags and direct messages.
• There are several reports of bugs and malfunctions involving parts of the platform’s interface, including its dark mode, notifications, and GIF support.

Threads

Despite being the most recent platform to be publicly introduced, Meta’s Threads has quickly become one of the top contenders to replace X. It was created by the Instagram team to complement the platform’s media and visual focus with a text-based app. It was announced and launched on July 5.

Despite its plain and basic interface, many of its features seem to imitate X. For instance, posts can be replied to, shared, reposted, or quoted (repost with a comment). Some differences include the image count allowed per post (10 for Threads, 4 for X), the character limits (500 for Threads, 280 for X), and the video length for posts (5 minutes for Threads, less than 2.5 minutes for X). Additionally, Threads doesn’t yet support direct messaging and hashtags.

Many X and Instagram users worldwide were quick to hop on to the Threads train, contributing to an impressively fast growth in user count. After only 24 hours, the platform already had 30 million users. Then, five days after its launch, sign-ups breached the 100 million mark.

Despite the initial hype and excitement that made Threads so popular, it’s now facing a steep decline in activity. From having over 44 million daily active users on July 7, it’s left with only 13 million — a 70% drop in a matter of two weeks.

Given this bump in the road, it’s valid to question whether Threads will remain to be a reliable X alternative in the long term. Still, its substantial user base and the interface’s familiarity give it a significant advantage over competitors.

Advantages of Threads

• Threads has one of the broadest user bases among potential X alternatives, making it easier to connect with people around the globe.
• Many influencers and celebrities were quick to join this app. Thus, most of your favorite X personalities are likely to be on Threads, too.
• The interface is simple and familiar, so it’s easier to navigate and get used to.
• It has more lenient posting limits, including video length and character caps.
• You can automatically import your Instagram “Following” list to Threads. This also makes it easier for your peers and Instagram followers to find you on the new app.

Disadvantages of Threads

• The platform still lacks basic social networking features, including direct messages and hashtags.
• The dwindling daily user activity could signal its weakness in terms of retaining traction and interest among its users.
• Once you create a Threads profile linked to your Instagram, you can’t delete your Threads account without also deleting Instagram. Instead, you can temporarily deactivate the app.
• Its close integration with Instagram can make some settings confusing to navigate. For instance, you can deactivate your Threads account while keeping your Instagram profile. But if you want to permanently remove your account on Threads, you’ll have to delete your Instagram too.
• Threads is not yet available in the European Union due to possible conflict with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), pointing to possible privacy issues regarding data sharing between Instagram and Threads.

Is There a True “Twitter” Alternative?

While X is evidently staying strong amid the emergence of competition and growing unrest among its user base, there’s no telling where the popular app will be in the coming months and years. Elon Musk’s drastic and seemingly rash business moves are not helping, either.

Right now, where X is headed is anyone’s guess. So far, Musk’s leadership style has created turbulence and division. Aside from his corporate maneuvers, his attitude on the app has been a red flag for plenty of users.

For example, his reinstatement of accounts that had been suspended for false or offensive tweets has caused many to worry that X will return to a culture that’s considered toxic. Also concerning are suspensions of accounts that directly criticized Musk.

The more X becomes Musk’s personal playground, the more users will look elsewhere for their social media fix. But is there a platform that can truly replace the “Twitter” experience?

From our research, it doesn’t seem so — yet. The original Twitter catered to a broad base, which is something the proposed alternatives have not been able to effectively tap thus far. Most of the newer platforms can’t sustain enough interest to grow substantially, while others are still in the beta stage. Other apps are also struggling to find a way to monetize their content, which is crucial for their longevity.

Still, there are alternatives for niche markets. Some people will like Mastodon for its decentralized nature, though it isn’t as easy to use as X. Others will prefer Threads for its familiar interface and wide reach, even as its activity and engagement levels remain in question. For some, Bluesky will be appealing for its uncanny resemblance to X as soon as it’s made available to the public.

Given the current demand for a comprehensive social network to replace X — coupled with the disparity in what the potential alternatives offer — what we may find is a more splintered market of users leveraging several apps at a time, depending on their interests and preferences.

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• Source: https://www.safetydetectives.com/news/top-x-alternatives-analysis/