Given the almost daily announcements recently from the world of social media, we thought we’d follow up on our last post which looked at Meta’s tilt at Twitter, now ‘X’.
After its massive initial surge in sign-ups, usage of Meta’s rival app Threads has plummeted 80 per cent.
Source: similarweb
Threads made signing up easy for those with an Instagram account but not so for many X users who found the app comparatively featureless.
With the heat on to stay in the game, Threads has been tweaking as fast as it can, announcing a repost feature and in recent days launching a web-based version.
Oddly, just as Threads piles on new features, X has been removing them.
Having already torpedoed a chunk of his social media platform’s functionality, Elon Musk recently floated the idea of deleting X’s block feature.
Some users, including anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, immediately suggested the tetchy tech bro rethink the idea. Forbes contributor John Koetsier called the idea shocking: “The result is likely to be even more division, anger, and harassment on the platform.”
Musk argues X’s mute function will be adequate (albeit after some beefing up) while at the same time conceding the platform could, as predicted, be doomed.
Ad placement and lack of content moderation continue to plague X, with brands again pulling advertising from the platform.
However, as brands start to build a presence on Threads, ad space on the app remains unavailable. Marketers may also be looking at Threads’ parent company Meta, owner of Facebook, which has been criticised for its laissez-faire approach to content moderation. (There are also some continued privacy concerns restricting access in the EU.)
Contrast that with rival BlueSky who has begun pursuing revenue directions other than advertising, such as custom domains. The platform remains in beta, with sign-ups restricted to a waitlist for those without an invite code. Though if it launches fully-formed, it may succeed where Threads, by going too early, has (so far) failed.
X’s other notable rival, Mastodon, continues to take on disenchanted users, who may be forgiven for thinking they’ve fled an autocracy only to land in a fiefdom as users battle with moderators over issues such as lack of multi-lingual support, or just feel generally unwelcome.
Interestingly, Threads has committed to using ‘ActivityPub’, the protocol underlying Mastodon and other ‘federated’ platforms.
“Soon, you'll be able to follow and interact with people on other fediverse platforms, like Mastodon”, Threads states.
BlueSky, on the other hand, is building its own ‘AT Protocol’ which it claims will be a bigger, better federated protocol.
Confused yet?
In short, as Threads bulks up on features, it may grab enough user share to head off BlueSky before its expected launch in the coming months.
For marketers, regardless of how BlueSky’s ambitious, ad-free business model plays out, some assurances around content moderation would likely be a deciding factor in who comes out on top in a post-X social media world.
Related:
A 5-minute tour of the Fediverse
Can ActivityPub save the internet?