Life after Twitter (Micro-Blogging in 2024)

So, that’s it! You’ve had it and you’re leaving Twitter!… or whatever it’s called nowadays…

Great! Congratulations!

I’m not going to lie; I was starting to wonder why you were still there. I was almost judging you. Someone said that the best time to leave Twitter was December 2022, but the next best time is right now. I fully concur.

So you’re leaving Twitter at last, or maybe you left a little while ago, but you’re not totally sure where to settle now.

Don’t worry, I’m here for you.

Since Twitter’s demise, late 2022, many would-be replacements have popped up. Some were already around, some were created in the aftermath. There were almost too many options, but now, pretty much two years later, the dust has settled down and the current social media landscape for micro-blogging is getting less confusing.

However, note that it’s constantly evolving and a lot of the things I’m going to talk about now may not be valid in six months.

(I’ll try to keep this post up-to-date as much as possible).

So, yes, right now, in the second half of 2024, there are pretty much three solid Twitter replacements and they all have their pros and cons.

The goal of this post is to help you choose between the three.

 

Note that even if you already use one of them, this post may not be totally useless as I’ve noticed that a lot of users of each platform are not that familiar with the other two. And worse, I see a lot of people thinking that you can’t like one without hating the two others (despite being poorly informed about them). It’s a sad behavior if you’re asking me, but it’s a common one, unfortunately.

Alright, it’s time to name names and to give you a quick and hopefully useful overview of the three: Threads, Bluesky and the Fediverse (including Mastodon).

Here is a brief overview of the three. I didn’t list everything; the post is long enough as it is, but I think this can give you a clearer idea of what the three are all about.

 

 

Threads

Let’s start with Threads, the biggest one but also the least interesting of the three.

Threads is Meta’s attempt to kill Twitter, and while it hasn’t succeeded, it has maimed it. I won’t give you a history of each platform, but know that Threads accounts are linked to Instagram accounts. It was a very smart way for Meta to jumpstart their platform and create a big user base from Day One.

You can do on Threads most of the things you could do on Twitter, just a little differently.

• Pro: It’s easy to get started, especially if you’re on Instagram.
• Con: Your account being linked to your Instagram account can be a problem too. Your “Instagram-persona” may be quite different from your micro-blogging persona. Now, they’re both linked.
• Con: the overbearing importance of the algorithm. If you want to use Threads you have to be okay with an algorithm feeding you what is your main timeline, to the point it almost becomes secondary to follow people. There is a “Following” tab, but the user interface is designed in such a way that it wants you to use it as little as possible, or even forget that it exists. It’s a bit more manageable on desktop, but forget about having any control on what’s in your feed on mobile.
  The “For you” (aka algorithm-fed) tab is not all bad, but you will rarely see people you follow in it.
  What will you see? When you get started, your timeline will feel quite random. It’ll be a mix of topics popular with people you follow (not necessarily their posts) and topics popular all over the platform. Then, the more you post or interact with a topic, the more you’ll see about this topic. And, be warned, the algorithm can be bit heavy-handed, and it often creates a feedback loop. If you talk about a given topic, you’ll see more posts about this topic, so of course you’re more likely to reply to them, which will trigger the algorithm into showing you more posts about this topic.
• In the end, Threads feels more like Reddit than a regular micro-blogging platform in the sense that you end up talking with strangers about various topics rather than reading and talking with people you follow. I mean, it’s not necessarily bad, just something to be aware of.
• Con: Because of the algorithm and the way it works, engagement bait is already becoming a major annoyance. Lately people have noticed that questions get boosted by the algorithm, and I’m seeing more and more people asking questions that can be answered with a simple search online.
• Con: It is a part of Meta (I was going to say “Metaverse” but the term is dying, right?) with all that it implies. I don’t think Meta is one of the good guys of the internet, quite the contrary. But we also must not bundle the company with its users.
• Con: While it doesn’t invisiblize them, the algorithm does not push some topics it deems “controversial.” One can understand the logic, even Meta has realized how toxic some social media have become and they seem to want to avoid this with Threads. However, it becomes problematic when topics such as the climate crisis or some human rights issues are considered “controversial.” That’s Meta for you.
• Pro? It’s more or less a part of the Fediverse. I will explain in a future post at a later date.

 

Who are Threads users? most people on the Fediverse and Bluesky seem convinced that Threads is rampant with trolls, Russian bots, and angry Boomers. It is not. While their number may grow if the platform keeps on growing, there really aren’t that many. And that’s the one good thing about the algorithm: if they are around, the algorithm doesn’t like them. So, who are Threads users? Once again, they are Instagram users. It means you’ll find all kinds of people there, and the more you use it, the more you realize that the vast majority is what cool kids today call “normies“. But really, once again, you really find all kinds of people.

 

How do I use it? Almost not at all. After trying to make it useful or interesting to me without much success, I have almost stopped to use it.

I can’t say I’ve met many new people (as I said, it feels like Reddit, you don’t really “meet” the people you talk with) but I sometimes have interesting conversations about some topics… Sometimes…

As it’s linked to my Instagram account and that the latter focuses on my corner of Japan, I tried to talk about this but it’s just too niche to trigger anything of interest from the algorithm. Believe it or not, I don’t care that much about the fact that people with whom I have no prior relationship just spent a day in my area and posted pictures of the most famous landmarks. That or wannabe influencers who have lived a few weeks or months in Japan and who act as if they knew everything in and out about the country, posting click-baiting and/or half truths.

So, all in all, my primary use of Threads is to check it out shortly after waking up and while drinking my first coffee, my brain not being fully awake yet for anything more substantial or interesting.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad, and it’s definitely better than 2024 Twitter, especially because most people seem to do their best to keep negativity at bay. But it’s not that great either, unless you have some mainstream interests, maybe it can be useful then?

If you want to follow me there, here is my account.

 

Bluesky

Bluesky started as a side project at Twitter’s, by its founder Jack Dorsey. Elon Musk bought Twitter before Bluesky was anywhere near completed and Dorsey could keep it (it was not part of the deal.) Bluesky saw the light of the day as a separate and independent (from Twitter) entity shortly after. Soon and for reasons that are beyond the scope of the post, Dorsey lost interest in the project, gave it to someone else and left. So nowadays Bluesky is its own thing, independent of both Twitter and Jack Dorsey.

• Pro: It’s really easy to get started.
• Pro: It’s very intuitive to use, especially if you’re a former Twitter user.
• Pro: Your main feed is chronological and there is no stupid algorithm that decides what you see.
• Pro: There are some thematic algorithms that people can create and that you can subscribe to if you wish to.
• Pro: It’s supposed to eventually become decentralized.
• Con: It’s not decentralized, and it seems more and more that the above statement was an empty promise, which raises some concerns about how trustworthy the company is.
  (Update: I’m being reminded that it’s technically decentralized but in a way that is not accessible to all users, and the main app/site is still “centralizing” all the decentralized data, so yes, you can host your own data anywhere, it’s still centralized to be usable)
• Con: It is owned by “someone”. One of the major lessons I learned from the Elon Musk debacle was that maybe it was a bad idea to leave our online social lives in the hands of people who don’t have our best interest at heart. Moving from Twitter to Bluesky (or Threads) feels like not learning that lesson.
• Con: Various investors finance Bluesky, and I’m sure they’re not philanthropists. Eventually, they will want their return on investment. How will Bluesky make money? Nobody knows. Once again, haven’t we learned our lesson? Facebook, Google, Twitter and many more. They were all great until they needed to make money. That’s when things went downhill. Every single time. Enshittification is very probable in the future of Bluesky. Ironically, Threads may be safe from it if Meta can finance it through Instagram’s own enshittification.
  And in late October 2024, Bluesky got “invested in” (not technically bought out, but got enough money that the investors could get a seat on the board) by some crypto-companies dealing with all those nasty Blockchain, NFTs and other similar things, so enshittification is even closer than original thought)
• Con: It remains an American company with an American way of doing things. For example, a few weeks ago, I had to delete a post that the (automated) moderation didn’t like because I used a term that’s taboo in the US, despite the fact that any non-American human reading the post would understand that the way I was using the term was not problematic (just a bit provocative.) I guess the fact that moderation seems to mostly be done by AI is as much a factor as the American culture thing.
• Con: Engagement is very low. Despite following and being followed by a few hundred people, I have the feeling of shouting in the void more often than not when I post something. It feels like a message in a bottle every single time. Will anyone read it? I’m never sure.

 

Who are Bluesky users? I’m having a hard defining an archetypal Bluesky user (maybe because engagement is quite low in my experience.) I’d say that most Bluesky users seem to be left-leaning, educated, in their 30s-40s. Most people seem to be there to relax and have fun. There seems to be fewer “armchair militants” (people who think reposting something online is the same as taking action) there than most other platforms. Not many toxic people either. Spam seems minimal. Some shady accounts have followed me, but I blocked them before anything could happen. There’s just one type of account that seems suspicious and that’s quite common: accounts that post many pictures around one theme (often nature), the kind of account that you want to follow when you come across them. However, if you look closely, none of the pictures belong to the account and no credit is ever given. I have the feeling that these accounts are just amassing large numbers of followers for an unspecified future reason. In other words, be careful if such an account follows you, as the temptation to follow back is strong, but maybe you shouldn’t.

 

How do I use it? Quite irregularly. I’m mostly there to stay in touch with old contacts and friends from Twitter who didn’t go to the Fediverse. I do enjoy the place. It’s overall fun and with little to no negativity. Now, as I said earlier, I don’t trust it, and I don’t see how it can remain as pleasant when money will need to be made. Also, the promise of decentralisation seems more and more like an empty promise, and it doesn’t help my trust issues with the company. In other words, I like the place, but I don’t want to invest myself too much in it because I’m pretty sure that sooner or later things will turn sour (that and the low engagement is not very motivating either.)

If you want to follow me on Bluesky, click here.

 

 

And last but not least, we have:

Mastodon and the Fediverse

And here I’m facing a conundrum. I always remind people that Mastodon and the Fediverse are two different things, and that the two terms are not synonym nor interchangeable and here I am, about to do just that.

Well, I wrote a post explaining what the Fediverse is in as simple terms as possible, but here and now, as we’re talking about Twitter replacements, it’s difficult not to focus on Mastodon, the biggest and most Twitter-like platform of all Fediverse services. For now, just know that there are many other different services on the Fediverse, including other micro-blogging platforms beside Mastodon (some are even better, but not as famous.)

Mastodon is not a newcomer. It’s been around since 2017, but the Twitter debacle put it under the spotlight for the past couple of years. Here is what you need to know about it.

• Pro: It’s decentralized and open source. It means that while it has a core team of developers (a very small one) it doesn’t belong to anyone and a crazy billionaire or anyone else can’t just buy it out. And anyone can create a fork (a variation) of the product that will remain entirely compatible with it.
• Pro: It’s part of the Fediverse. It’s an important “selling point” of Mastodon. It means that it’s connected and entirely compatible with a bunch of other services. The easy way to explain is to imagine being able to follow Facebook accounts, Instagram accounts and TikTok accounts from your Twitter account, as well as communicate with them seamlessly, even share the posts from one platform on another platform. This is roughly what the Fediverse is.
• Con: There is a learning curve. Many people complain that “Mastodon is difficult to use.” Honestly, I don’t think it’s a fair criticism. Sure, Threads and Bluesky take minutes to learn how to use, but that’s mostly because they roughly work like Twitter. I’m not sure someone who’s never used Twitter will instantly find them easy to use and intuitive. Mastodon works slightly differently (especially because of the decentralization thing) so you need to actually learn how to use it. Yes, there is a learning curve, but it’s an easy one. I feel that the criticism of being too difficult comes from people who never read instruction manuals. Well, for Mastodon, you need to read the “instruction manual”, but it’s short and easy to understand. (there isn’t really one, but there are a bunch of tutorials online)
• Con? Pro? Both? Another issue to be aware of is that because of its decentralized nature, your account is not stored on the company’s server but on someone else’s server. It means that it’s not risk free. Your server could shut down (it has happened before, mostly people who created servers when Mastodon became popular late 2022, early 2023, without realizing that running a social media server was not for the faint of heart.) Your server could be blocked (and your account with it) by another server for some reason. However, you can also run your own personal server where you have total control of what’s happening (that’s what I’ve been doing.) And it’s very easy to do, some web hosts provide fully managed services.
• Pro: If you don’t like your server for any reason, you can move your account to another server at any time. Choosing a server seems to be a big hurdle for some new users, but I always tell them to not sweat it. You just need to pick one, learn the ropes, and you can move to another one later.
• Pro: There is no algorithm, or rather, you create your own algorithm. You don’t do it through coding but by carefully tailoring and curating what you see in your timeline (that’s part of the learning curve).
• Pro: You can follow hashtags! And honestly, I don’t know why this is not a more common feature on social media, and why not many people mention it when they introduce Mastodon. It’s one of the platform’s best features and one of the best ways to find new people who talk about things you care about (and it’s part of the tailoring your timeline.)
• Pro: There are almost no trolls, and most people are well-meaning.
• Con: Some people are a bit too well-meaning and in the name of inclusion, they can be quite annoying and… excluding… Learning to ignore them is also part of the learning curve and tailoring your own experience.
• Pro: You don’t like the mobile app or the web interface? There are dozens of other ones you can try, there has to be at least one you like (that’s the great thing about open source.)
• Pro: Maybe the most important one: Engagement is very high! People are here to connect with other people. People follow back, people read your posts because they’re on the platform for that. They like, they repost, more than anywhere else in my opinion. It’s the place where I also have the easiest time growing a following (I already have more followers than I ever had on Twitter.)

 

Who are Mastodon users? They have the reputation to be a bunch of leftist, LGBTQ+, neuro-divergent Linux users. Well, it’s not (entirely) true. For starters, I’m a straight, Windows user and my mental health provider thinks I’m very neurotypical. Sure, I’m a leftist. 😉 To be honest, these groups of people are indeed quite common on Mastodon, but they’re definitely not the only ones, and in any case, they’re good people to get to know. Are there more nerds and tech-oriented people than average? Sure (maybe because they’re the kind of people who actually read the instruction manual?) There are also more educated people who love sharing about their field of knowledge, whatever that field is.

One thing I especially like about Mastodon and the Fediverse is that it’s not an American centric ecosystem, as opposed to pretty much every other social network. For starters, Mastodon is originally German, and Europeans are still the largest demographics. You don’t know how refreshing this is until you’ve tried it.

Is it all fun and games? Unfortunately not. Because Mastodon was early and widely adopted by some minorities and militants (real or the armchair kind) to escape the harassment they were victims of in other places, especially Twitter, some of them became very defensive, have a constant chip on their shoulder, and behave like the worst gate keepers, unfortunately. They can be beyond annoying when they try to dictate to others how to use the place as if they owned it. Some can behave like true bullies. My advice? Don’t let them dictate anything, and ignore them (the mute button is your friend, the block button too, for the worst offenders.)

Remember, Mastodon belongs to everyone, and it’s just a part of the Fediverse (the gate keepers seem to limit their gate keeping to Mastodon).

 

How do I use it? A lot. It has become my main online social place. While Mastodon itself has room for improvement, I truly think that the Fediverse is the only sane way forward for social media. That is an ecosystem without walls, where everything can be interconnected (remember that was the point of the internet before the tech industry started building walls everywhere) where most things are decentralized and open source.

I have met great people there. I learn new things every day. I have fun too. And I truly feel in control of my accounts.

Follow me on Mastodon. Note that it’s my own solo server. And you can also follow my other main Fediverse accounts from Mastodon, Firefish (another micro-blogging platform) and Pixelfed (a picture sharing platform)

 

TL; DR: So, which one should people use?

Well, it truly depends on what you use social media for.

• If you’re a heavy Instagram user, if you follow famous people, official accounts and you think algorithms are a good thing, Threads is probably for you.
• If you like talking with friends, memes, light topics, Bluesky is probably for you.
• If you want to learn a new way to use social media, one that goes beyond what you already know and can revolutionize your whole approach of the internet, Mastodon and, more importantly, the Fediverse are for you.
• But really, I think it’s sad when people go all in with one platform and start disparaging the other ones. I see this Coke vs Pepsi behavior a lot and in many situations, including social media, and I just don’t get it. It’s okay to use more than one, you know? Especially when they serve different purposes.

Still, I mostly advise Bluesky and the Fediverse and while sadly, they don’t officially communicate with each other, there is an amazing workaround to bridge that gap. You should use it if you’re on either of those platforms.

 

Alright, that’s all for now. As long as you leave Twitter, and try any or all of the ones described above, all will be fine.

Finally, stay tuned for the follow-up to that post where I’ll explain in plain English the awesomeness that the Fediverse is. You should read, even if you’re not a Mastodon fan.

 

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