Did Elon Musk end up killing Twitter/X? The new exodus is here

Since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk in 2022, the future of the benchmark social network for microblogging has been debated. In two years, the actions of the billionaire transformed the functioning of Twitter, which has since become X.

For two years, other networks presented themselves as alternatives to Twitter without being able to challenge its hegemony. Since the American election, however, something seems to have changed. For several days now, the Bluesky network has seemed to be succeeding in doing well.

The big changes of X

Here is a non-exhaustive summary of the major changes made by Elon Musk in two years and which made people cringe:

Is Bluesky succeeding in its bet?

Since the American elections and the appointment of Elon Musk to a position in Donald Trump's administration, a new, more massive exodus appears to have been triggered.

The Bluesky application is at the top of the rankings on the application stores and registers a new million users every day.

On November 15, we had 15 million users, and three days later, the platform had more than 18 million.

The platform has also seen the arrival of major accounts such as NPR, React.dev, Xbox.com, and the English newspaper The Guardian. Accounts which have sometimes announced their departure and the cessation of publications on X, like Stephen King.

In France, we can mention the arrival of the newspaper Libération, but also of influencers like Antoine Daniel, Fibretigre, and even Gautoz.

Why Bluesky?

Bluesky is not the only social network to have presented itself as an alternative to X. We also have Threads, which has all the power of Meta and Instagram, or Mastodon, Twitter's historic competitor.

So why does Bluesky's recipe seem to work? We have several ideas to answer this question:

• registering on the social network is very simple and uses the basic functionalities of the old Twitter. The interface is very simple and fluid;

• Bluesky does not offer any advertising and features an algorithm-free feed by default, which allows users to reconnect in their communities;
• Bluesky offers powerful moderation tools to block or mask toxicity and avoid repeating the experience of X;
• the community already present generally seems welcoming;
• the starter kit system makes it easy to find people to follow.
• the network is growing quickly, with new functions regularly

It's too early to decide

The increase in activity on Bluesky allows users to do without X completely and make Bluesky their main platform. In this regard, Bluesky seems to succeed where Threads and Mastodon failed to transform the essay.

The social network seems to have passed this glass ceiling which allows it a certain autonomy, and to avoid becoming a deserted city again. “Seems”, because by definition, the liveliness of a social network depends on its users. If the sauce settles, X could regain its vigor.

In addition, BlueSky is still missing a good number of institutional accounts. We do not yet find the official accounts of political staff. Emmanuel Macron, for example, does not have his Bluesky account. As well as the official accounts of ministries in France and abroad.

It will be interesting to see, if the social network manages to maintain its momentum, when these accounts arrive on Bluesky. Only then could we truly present the social network as a complete alternative to X.