“I tried to stay, but the atmosphere became too toxic.” Like the novelist Stephen King, researchers or renowned media like the Guardianmany users of the X network (formerly Twitter) have chosen to flee the platform in recent weeks. The main reason given ? The politics of its owner, the richest man in the world and major supporter of Donald Trump : Elon Musk.
To get the Republican candidate elected, the entrepreneur not only spoke at meetings and financed part of the person's campaign. He also used the social network, making the algorithm favor the accounts of representatives of the hard right and conspiracy theorists, choosing insufficient moderation which allowed hateful accounts to flourish… While Elon Musk will become even more powerful after his appointment within the future Trump administration, more than one intends to distance himself from X. However, several competing social networks have been launched in recent years, although their operation can be quite different. Franceinfo presents the main ones to you.
Bluesky, a more customizable and community Twitter
Bluesky should not disorient X users too much. The platform, launched with restricted access in February 2023, uses many codes from the old Twitter. Not surprising, since it counts among its initial creators (who has since left the ship) a certain Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter. The home screen thus looks exactly like that of its competitor.
But Bluesky offers features that help personalize your experience. For example, you can subscribe directly to news feeds prepared by other users, on specific themes (art, information, humor, science, etc.). And if you want to invite your friends, you can create a “starter kit” for them by bringing together your favorite threads and accounts.
On the moderation side, the handling is also customizable. You can hide certain words or types of publications as you wish, or download “turnkey” lists of accounts to block. Bluesky's computer code can also be consulted by anyone, registered or not, and the platform aims to become more decentralized.
For the moment, the general feeling is that of a reunion with the Twitter of the beginnings: free expression on everything and anything, mainly American users, rather on the left, with the humor of the time, without the provocations or the insults that prevail on X. Understandable, with “only” 20 million registered – still a gain of more than six million in about two weeks. According to its own statistics, Bluesky has 11.5 million active users at least once a month, compared to nearly 570 million for Elon Musk's network in the second quarter of 2024, according to specialist media Digiday.
This rapid growth creates its share of problems : occasional crashes, explosion of moderation needs, or even waves of comments coordinated by pro-Musk or pro-Trump accounts… Furthermore, a certain number of features are still missing, such as an integrated automatic translator, the possibility of publish videos longer than 60 seconds or keep drafts.
Threads, the “Instagram of text” in search of itself
With over 275 million monthly active users, Threads is X's main competitor. Not so surprising, considering the app is created by Meta, which already owns giants Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. What differences can Mark Zuckerberg's youngest claim? ?
First advantage: speed. No need to re-enter any information, just log in with their Instagram account and you can subscribe to the same accounts with one click.
Another selling point: transversality. Threads is in fact integrated into a larger whole called the “Fediverse”, a galaxy of platforms that can communicate with each other because they use the same technical base. Via Threads, you will therefore be able to eventually publish at the same time on several member networks of this network, such as Mastodon (see below), consult the responses and “likes” that users leave from these same platforms, and transfer your profiles and your preferences from one to the other. On the other hand, at the moment, finding the profile of a person whose identifier you do not know is a chore.
Threads uses certain choices from other Meta platforms which are not always appreciated. The news feed is therefore very little customizable and largely populated with suggestions from the algorithm (unless you choose to see exclusively the accounts you follow). The platform also reduces the visibility of political content by default and blocks any form of nudity, including of an artistic or educational nature.
As on Facebook and Instagram, moderation often acts up, and many accounts were blocked or deleted for erroneous reasons at the beginning of October, as reported by the specialized site The Verge. Finally, Threads could soon integrate advertisements, says The Information, a another reference site on the subject.
Generally speaking, Threads doesn't give the impression of having really found its reason for being. The community spirit existing among some of its competitors is currently lacking. But like all the networks mentioned in this article, Threads is still a work in progress, and with the firepower of the Meta group behind it, it's starting from a much more comfortable position.
Mastodon, a galaxy of networks that communicate with each other
Mastodon is a special case. Unlike previous networks, you will not necessarily be able to see everyone's posts, nor communicate with any user. In reality, it is not exactly a social network, but a set of independent servers (called “instances”) which can communicate with each other, and which anyone can create depending on the community at hand. which he wishes to address (in absolute terms, you can also create your own instance).
The interest? Allow everyone to organize themselves according to their own rules, in a “decentralized” way, without being controlled by a single owner or bought by a billionaire. When creating your account, you must choose your server. Currently, according to Mastodon, there are nearly 11 000, with 8.8 million registered in total (but only 930,000 active users in the last month). Among the best known in France are mastouille.fr or piaille.fr.
You can sort according to several criteria, such as language, number of members, or the choice of a particular theme (technology, music, social issues, etc.). Furthermore, each instance is supervised by its own administrators and moderators, who choose their rules, like Reddit. Depending on the person, moderation decisions may therefore be lax or restrictive, negotiable or authoritarian, consistent or fluctuating.
But rest assured, there's no need to spend hours looking for the perfect server: you can follow and communicate with members of other instances (unless the moderators have blocked them), and you can change later while still keeping your subscriptions and subscribers.
Related News :