Where is the Twitter Alternative?

Try Threads

[quote] Why can’t Silicon Valley come up with something better so we can leave?

You can leave any time you want. Are you a baby?

It’s not food, air or water. Social media is a mental illness.

Threads has gotten much better recently, and it's not overrun by right-wing trolls (yet).

Bluesksy, OP.

BLUESKY

I have seen more people migrating to threads, but in some cases it's just a dupe of their x - "formerly known as twitter." .. I still laugh when I read that. No one wants to call it 'x.'

[QUOTE] Bluesksy, OP. BLUESKY

You can shout it as loud as you want, R4. Nobody uses it.

[QUOTE] It’s not food, air or water. Social media is a mental illness.

Then why does every Democratic politician use it, R2?

Threads

Threads is owned by Meta (Facebook)

Bluesky i picking up steam, despite what a screeching monkey says.

Silicon Valley is not exactly on the side of democracy, if you haven’t noticed.

Unless you are announcing a new project/business/art work/initiative (i.e. advertizing/networking), Twitter X is a giant ego orgy. It's soooooooo cringeworthy to announce your fucking Thoughts to The World. And with the political stuff, you are either preaching to the choir or asking to get trolled/inviting trashy backtalk.. I know people say they stay up to date on current events via socials, but there are many other ways to do so. Read a paper, or watch youtube commentary. I find Twitter and Instagram very egoic and would feel embarrassed to participate. I find Facebook cringey too.

It's great if you want to find an old friend, or to announce "Mom is out of the hospital, she's doing well!" But curating of one's life for the gaze of The Other...it's all fishing for ego strokes. Yay, you met a celebrity! You went to Paris, cool!! You were at the Super Bowl! Awesome!! Yay your niece went to Prom!! You think Trump is an idiot, wow me too!!!.

I remember when we were all doing all of those things and we would just tell our friends and family on the phone or over coffee. Why does everyone require everything to be KNOWN and PRONOUNCED to the WORLD? It's so narcissistic.

Isn't Twitter mostly OnlyFans guys teasing their content now? Or is that just my feed?

I like Mastodon, and you can mirror view some twitter threads you’ve missed.

[QUOTE] Isn't Twitter mostly OnlyFans guys teasing their content now? Or is that just my feed?

Yes, R12, Twitter is just Onlyfans guys with their dicks out. That’s why President Biden announced to the world that he was withdrawing from the race by posting his farewell letter on Twitter. 🙄

You guys are clueless.

Or you are humorless. Don't you know how algorithms work?

I like BLUESKY but it is still a bit sparse over there

The thing is, more people would migrate to Bluesky if more people migrated to Bluesky

Is that a Catch 22? Probably not but the Bluesky situation is something like that. People think the interface is fine but since not tons of people are using it they wait and complain not enough people are using it.

Mastadon is a stupid name.

This is the network effect. The smaller social networks aren’t as effective. I always wondered why terrorists use western platforms if their ideologies are so superior. It’s just like with Truth social, in that it doesn’t have a wide and effective reach as Twitter because its network is smaller.

People who I used to follow, like Rick Wilson, have a point: if everyone who's not its prevalent demo right now (neonazis, assorted far right idiots, racists, incels, MRAs, conspiracy theorists, crypto weirdos, bots...) leaves, they've accomplished what they and Elon set out to do. As much as I respect that opinion, towards the end, many months ago, I found it really detrimental to my mental health, with its constant rage baiting, trolling, dragging you down the rabbit holes of idiocy, etc, that I just didn't think it was worth it, in spite of some content being good (mostly news/culture.) A week after I deactivated my account, I felt much better, and never regretted leaving it. I might be tempted by Threads before the same sewer people start showing up there. I don't do FB; can I still set up an account there?

[QUOTE] if everyone who's not its prevalent demo right now (neonazis, assorted far right idiots, racists, incels, MRAs, conspiracy theorists, crypto weirdos, bots...) leaves, they've accomplished what they and Elon set out to do.

What do you mean, R19? If everyone except Elon and his rightwing fanbase left, Twitter would collapse. Especially if we migrated to a new alternative platform that could dethrone it. How is that what they set out to do?

His job was to destroy Twitter.

Well he accomplished his goal, R21. The question is why hasn’t Microsoft or Google or Apple or some other young upstart company managed to fill the tremendous void left in Twitter’s wake?

Threads is annoying and for many of the same reasons that Instagram and Facebook are annoying (e.g. it defaults to what they think you'll like rather than what you want to see).

We need some disinterested rich person to re-create what Twitter was before Musk and the pornbots took over.

There were reports last year that TikTok's new text based service would be twitter alternative. Is this catching on?

Considering nobody knows what it is or even what it’s called, I’d say no, R24. I use TikTok daily and I’ve never heard of that.

R11, I know you want nothing more than for those young folks (the ones pushing 70) to get off your lawn, but your stereotyping of social media is silly & puerile. It sounds like you spent a few days on Facebook circa 2009 and are still assuming that's how people use it, which is batshit. Plenty of people use it for a reason, and unless you're following nobody but trolls, there's still decent info even on The Site Formerly Known as Twitter, though Elon has of course largely ruined it. Not everyone on there is some sort of narcissistic/BPD "LOOK AT ME ME ME!!!" type. I only follow people who have things of actual interest to say, and as of late I've been migrating more & more to Threads.

It's 2024. The idiotic dizzy twinks who updated their status every five minutes on FB disappeared eons ago, plus not that many people use FB at all. (I'm only on there for professional reasons: it's the main place for networking with people in other cities in my field of work.)

The "demure young woman" tweet posted during the DNC – where the poster FUCKING DESTROYS Ann Coulter – was one of the most enjoyable bits of media I've seen all year. And I've definitely enjoyed hearing some perspectives on the election in areas I don't know well, e.g. most of what Tim Walz knows.

Anyway, the best current Twitter alternative is Threads – yes, it's owned by Meta, but that also helps it generate a network effect – but I'm still hoping Twitter goes tits-up and someone buys it off Elon for a fraction of what he paid, and then corrects all the damage he did.

Twitter isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Biden announced his stepping down from the Presidency on Twitter.

Why?

Every politician in the US and around the world is on Twitter. Every important country. The Monarchy. The Vatican.

If an announcement must be made to the world....that's where it's done.

I can't possibly engage with people who might disagree with me. Gay fragility.

R19 stay for lesbian midget scat porn

r29 Unfortunately Brazil just blocked twitter so access to disturbing porn is going to be cut by about 90%.

Good R30. Here's hoping Twitter gets banned elsewhere as well.

Twitter will not get banned anywhere else, and we’re not sure how effective the Brazil ban will be.

If you want to kill Twitter, make it irrelevant.

Twitter is the epicenter of Hurricane Helene misinformation and conspiracies with Musk as the ringleader, yet we’re still using it.

Reddit is the best place to talk up to the minute politics.

I got off Twitter when Musk took it over. I use Threads.

I am conscious now of how my use of Threads is just subtle addiction. Engagement scrolling. I see how it and its algorithms only want to get my eyes and fingers on it. Effectively erasing my judgement in the shells of "my interests"...

I see this now as what Twitter did...it did not keep me "more aware" of politics and advanced. It manipulated me.

Reddit is certainly more substantial...it's like what the internet was 20-25 years ago and why the internet had positive potential for change. It also is "hard work" for someone who has been dulled and lobotomized by the algorithms of Twitter et. al.

I used to code...early websites etc. I am not a luddite. But today my goals are to get off screens as much as possible before A.I. eats me. Eats us. Detroys our minds.

While Threads has some legit posters, the majority of them appear to be there to earn money for number of posts, views and subscribers. They even post on how their payments are late.

[quote]Twitter is the epicenter of Hurricane Helene misinformation

You are making that up. That is not what that article states.

BTW: Compared to other platforms, Twitter is a much smaller player in the world of social media.

I'll do bluesky or what ever it is called.

Threads doesn’t allow nudity and you need to have Instagram and if they shut down your Instagram your threads account goes with it.

Bluesky is full of nothing but trannies and communists. The most miserable people on the planet. It’s nothing but “please donate for my top surgery”.

It’s X, NOT Twitter!

Op try Truth Social

[quote] Mastadon is a stupid name.

Naming your service after something that has gone extinct really doesn't seem like a good idea. Even Unicorn would have been a catchier name if you were going for the extinct.

We prefer to call it Twitter, thanks.

The truth isn’t propaganda, r45.

[quote]He’s using Twitter as a weapon to brazenly aid and abet the GOP.

We should all have $44 billion to buy public opinion and shape it as we see fit.

Threads is okay but way too algorithm-based. And everything that I see that gets boosted is dumb shit like Australians asking why Americans pronounce caramel the way they do. WTF?

[quote]The truth isn’t propaganda

Ah yes, The Ministry of Truth.

Threads is garbage. I don’t know a single person who uses it. Yet everybody I know still uses Twitter and talks about it. It has this omnipresent force. It’s only rivaled by Facebook and TikTok, but they have a completely different feel. We need a Twitter replacement.

Twitter is really like a port-a-potty on the fourth day of a music festival now. I mean, right now. It should really be abandoned.

Yes, but we need something to replace it with. Threads was the perfect opportunity for us to make the jump but Zuckerberg shit the bed.

Bluesky is Twitter except in name and size - otherwise they have basically copied everything, user-wise. I have an account and keep checking to see if more people are on, and waiting, and waiting. But if you want a Twitter in all but name then Bluesky is it

Are they as politically toxic?

Yes, r54. They hate Jews on there and are far far far Left.

The internet was a mistake.

I heartily agree with OP. Once Musk removes blocks and mutes from Twitter in December I'm finally going to delete my account. I never post on Twitter anymore - just use my account to read Twitter. There are lots of suggestions to go to threads. What really bothers me about Threads is that it owned by yet another oligarch - Zuckerberg - who leans towards Trump for lower taxes and laxer regulations and all the other things super rich people want. Twitter is owned by oligarch Musk who is a full on Trump surrogate and posts dangerous misinformation and lies. Zuckerberg on the other hand, just lets it go on unabated and then cries foul that it's too complicated to administer social media...

Between Zuckerberg, Musk, Theil, Murdoch et al - this is what an oligarchy looks like. Perhaps when people delete their Twitter accounts in December en masse, a viable social media platform will present itself. In the meantime, Threads and Bluesky aren't really contenders.

R54 Just the opposite. Bluesky is (I think intentionally) a safe-haven for the left. However that also means you'll still see pro-pali propaganda, but at least it's not delivered via bots, and it's easy enough to avoid.

R57, I’ve only used it for porn

I mostly do too now R59. It has the hottest porn from everyday people.

Threads.

i only think of this when I hear of threads

It's shit R61 and it's owned by Zuckerberg.

[QUOTE] Bluesky is Twitter except in name and size - otherwise they have basically copied everything, user-wise. I have an account and keep checking to see if more people are on, and waiting, and waiting. But if you want a Twitter in all but name then Bluesky is it

Well, R53, Apple or Microsoft or somebody needs to buy Bluesky and blow it up into the Twitter alternative. Let’s say it’s Apple. The Apple touch with their strong marketing and a preinstalled iPhone app would quadruple the signup and engagement numbers in one day. Twitter’s remaining advertisers will flee and the platform would collapse.

I’m okay with that

Threads isn't bad. Owned by Suckerberg but at least they're not putting right-wing shit in my feed like Twitter does

You know, if you stopped using his stupid social media and stopped buying his piece of shit cars, this demagogue would crawl back under the shithole South African rock from whence he came.

[quote]You know, if you stopped using his stupid social media and stopped buying his piece of shit cars, this demagogue would crawl back under the shithole South African rock from whence he came.

He has a few other wildly successful companies. Ever heard of Space X?

None of them have the high consumer visibility of X and Tesla, R68.

If you ask X users what Space X is, 90% wouldn't know (or care).

r59 Its not even good for porn though. 99% of the porn on twitter is onlyfans ho's using it for advertising with 30 seconds clips before their accounts get banned because twitter itself hates porn.

R69 I addressed the idiotic statement at R67. If Twitter and Tesla were to somehow fail it would hardly cause Musk to crawl back to South Africa. He's got plenty of other things going.

TONS and TONS of porn

This is what the Democratic Party is enabling by continuing to use Elon’s platform.

Elon is a monster

What's Threads like for porn? Any good stuff from average gays to gay porn stars on there? Twitter is very good for porn. That's most of the reason I keep it.

It has none. Just the same insta-hoes making thirst traps

Well the Twitter alternative needs to be just as good for porn.

Blusky seems good enough

But nobody uses it, R78.

I am one of those who will never call it X. Fuck Elon.

Right, it’s twitter.

Blue sky is small but at least it is not owned by Meta.

Yet

Silicon Valley are all MAGA.

Yeah, those techbros are worried Kamala might start making them pay taxes. So they are all with Trump now.

Hate them

It's 100% Twitter R80. We aren't alone otherwise he would have shut off the twitter.com domain name.

R84 An increasing number of Silicon Valley CEOs are friendly to MAGA (still not a majority, but enough), but the "tech bros" who do the work are not. The three counties that define "Silicon Valley" election results in 2020:

Santa Clara - Biden 72%

San Mateo - Biden 78%

San Francisco - Biden 85%

Bluesky just gained half a million new users

Maybe it’s happening?

The things he’s doing in this election border on illegality. How could Democrats and their supporters continue to use this platform?

Elon just won him the election.

The Guardian pulls out of Twitter

Most of my followers among KHive and Black Twitter are migrating to Bluesky. I just opened my account there yesterday, and it appears to be blowing up.

Total non-Trump migration to BlueSky happening since last week, and it has escalated in the past few days.

Back to the question of Silicon Valley's shift to the "right".... this election, counties that define the Valley:

Santa Clara - (Biden 72% in 2020) Harris 68%

San Mateo - (Biden 78%) Harris 74%

San Francisco - (Biden 85%) Harris 81%

Now, the answer to the OP's question: I've tried Threads but it's just a version of FB now.... I opened a Bluesky account this week and it feel a lot like Twitter 10-15 years ago.... but smarter content. It's really the space to hang out in for this new MAGA Reich environment. They're almost 20 mil users now and, as R92 says, it's blowing up quickly... adding 1 mil users every day.

So far, I've been bouncing between Threads and BlueSky, but BlueSky is looking better all the time. More & more people are joining everyday and it is, at the moment, closer to the original Twitter experience.

Threads, on the other hand, is looking more problematic. They still don't show posts in chronological order, so you might have a 20-hour-old post followed by one that's only 10-minutes-old. There have also been numerous complaints that political posts have been unceremoniously deleted. And Zuckerberg really isn't much better than Musk in the long run. (He called Trump a "badass" and immediately sent him a congratulatory tweet.)

Neither one is as toxic as Twitter, however.

CNN, NYT, Forbes and Fortune etc have all reported on it recently..

I hate Threads, hate it. Whatever algorithm it is using is gibberish to me, I can't figure out how to see anything I want to. BlueSky, now that people are filling it up, it starting to replicate the better early days of Twitter. It still hasn't got a big corporate presence so it's just regular folks and they have these helpful "start packs" going around that help you find people to follow that cover your interests.

Who or what owns BlueSky? What’s to stop that pale, bloated weasel Elon Musk from just buying it when he starts to feel threatened?

BlueSky is "owned" by its CEO, Jay Graber. She has a background in the cryptocurrency world, so there's that.

“Bluesky Has the Juice”: Celebrities Flee “Toxic” X for Rival Social Media Site:

Feeling vindicated.

As well you should, R4/R101!

Been on BluSky all day. I think it may be the solution to my mixed feelings about this place. Some of you are wonderful, but some of you are deeply ill /bitter/unfortunate and want to take us down with you, and that's not my world.

R103 on the other hands, just close the screens. All of them.

"Been on BluSky all day".... and we wonder why civilization is ending.

You do you, r104. One Mum is enough, thanks,

Also: Interesting what you made "all day" mean, as if I'm doing nothing else. Project much, dear?

For all this hullabaloo about Bluesky in here, Threads has emerged as the biggest Twitter alternative.

[QUOTE] Bluesky gained its first wave of high-profile users last spring, and switched from being invitation-only to open to the public in February. It now has 14.7 million users, the company said.

[QUOTE]That is still far fewer than Threads, Meta’s competitor to X, which this month reported that it had reached 275 million monthly active users. More than 15 million users registered for the service so far this month, according to the company.

It doesn't matter. They've created a future where you can have Threads, Mastodon, and BSky all in one. There's apps that do this already if you look for them.

R107 BluSky users are already at 17 million now... and gaining ground every hour. You can actually watch the expansion in real time.

Part of the significance of the wave of members now is 1) Twitters environment is more toxic , day by day, and Musk's use of it to elect Trump is clear.. people don't want to be a part of that. and (related) 2) the heavyweight posters that many followed on Twitter are shutting down their accounts and moving to BluSky. It's not just the raw number, it is actually WHO is posting that matters.

[quote] BlueSky is "owned" by its CEO, Jay Graber. She has a background in the cryptocurrency world

So?

[quote]Threads, Meta’s competitor to X, which this month reported that it had reached 275 million monthly active users.

I suspect this includes people who log in to their Instagram account and click on a Threads link by accident or something. There are simply not that many users there, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who got fed up with Threads because of its stupid algorithms and no longer use it.

R107, that may be, but I'm kind of plugged in (media/politics, progressive organizing, LBGT issues) and there is no recent momentum toward Threads. There is a large wave of migration toward BlueSky and it's ongoing.

"Enshittification" has been one of the most useful new words of the past decade so far. Time will tell if BlueSky resists the enshittification that seems to ensue when the owners of a happening social media site decide to go max profit off its eyeballs, original mission be damned. So far so good, but this new surge of users has just happened and probably hasn't peaked yet.

Bluesky is finally BOOMING, 800,000k new users per week. However, I also found out that original founders were all libertarians including STEVE BANNON.

And now, I found out an LLC he’s directly invested in just invested $15 mil into Bluesky in October 2024.

Threads is OK, but I don't like that it is linked to my personal Instagram. I like to keep politics and my niche interests separate and private and not annoy IRL friends with that stuff. Bluesky does seem better in that respect, but I haven't found a lot of people to follow yet.

If you go on there now, just look up #starterpacks r114. But know that Bannon is involved, so it’s just a matter of time. The walls are closing in.

If you just google "Bluesky news" past week, the post-election move from X to Bluesky is getting a ton of coverage. BBC, CNN, USA Today, NYT, Forbes, Fortune, etc etc.

R116, it’s by design. They’ve been plotting this shit over ten years. They are rounding up all the liberals onto a platform that feels “safe”. They are letting their lunatics like Loomer make posters feel safe by suspending her, so they look liberal. It’s a trap. I believe they will declare the biggest posters national security threats and use that to seize their assets and imprison them. Look up what’s happening to the private prison industry on the stock market. Play around on there at your own peril. Of course, if there is a miracle, we will be ok. But are you expecting any miracles now? I am not. If Biden had balls he would bomb Russia tonight. But instead, the US ends, pinned on its back, without even fighting back. And Russia attacked our election, yet we do ZERO. Remember when Obama threw them all out after 2016?!??? NO RESPONSE?!?! Un-fucking-real. Truly.

[QUOTE] Bluesky is finally BOOMING, 800,000k new users per week. However, I also found out that original founders were all libertarians including STEVE BANNON. And now, I found out an LLC he’s directly invested in just invested $15 mil into Bluesky in October 2024.

What the fuck. I knew it.

R113 Steve Bannon was never an owner or even involved with BlueSky. A friend of his was an early investor back when Jack Dorsey was still heading up the project, but there was a giant schism a few years ago and Dorsey walked away from BS and sided with Musk and X.

And it absolutely has not been in the works for 10 years. It wasn't even conceived until 2019 and was officially founded in 2021. It was originally planned in partnership with Twitter, but when Musk bought it in 2022, they broke away, not wanting anything to do with X or Musk, and that's when Dorsey dipped and Graber was brought in as CEO.

Jesus, you people really need to touch grass.

Any conspiracy theory that Musk would actually WANT all lefties to leave X is utterly ridiculous. X without anyone for MAGA to troll is just Truth Social, and we all know how successful that was. Once MAGA and the bots have no one to troll, they grow bored very quickly and the platform dies.

R120 is right when it comes to Americans who do politics on X, but nearly 80% of X users are non US and a sizable % of those who are don’t use it for politics.

R117 are you the other Doom OP from that long long thread?

R119, I never said he was an owner, he was an *investor* and he reinvested in October of this year. Jack Dorsey is Libertarian. Most of the Tech Bros are. What? You going to tell me those two are liberals now too??? Being an investor means the public can’t see your identify when they look up who owns a company.

We can’t risk flocking to some platform just to get the rug pulled out from under us again.

I'll take a temporary fix over the chronic toxicity here.

Today, Bluesky gets the Times treatment.

F122 No...he wasn't an investor. His ex business partner/friend was. Just like I said. But that was when Jack Dorsey was CEO. He left the company when they wanted to break away from Twitter after Musk bought it. Just like I said. Jack Dorsey has NOTHING to do with BlueSky and hasn't for years.

My source says he was involved with that friend’s funding for it and that it was “hidden” in shells. I know Dorsey has been gone. The meta view is that Bluesky has had SHADY MFers surrounding it!!!! Why can’t you just admit that?

Dorsey being gone doesn’t mean it’s any safer than Twitter was, hello!!!! Maybe Musk will just buy BS? Whatever the exact details are, the stench of Bannon anywhere NEAR it should send up red flags. JFC! Try to keep up! They’re here to kill your country. You gonna keep walking into it?

Gawd, we have a reputation on Bluesky as being “the premiere forum for fascist gays”. Well done, guys.

Why is OP grayed out?

My guess r129? They don’t want us to find any place to regroup.

It's true, r128. It's just you DL bitches have your own form of fascism. And the people who just silently let it happen are just as bad as the people who set the microculture here. Bluesky has been a relief. I get the links and discussion I need,without revealing my identity and without having to battle overwhleming toxicity. It's why the social media pretty much ossified DL after the blog era made it flourish, and it's why the block features were too little, too late. This place is a museum.

R131 "your own form of fascism".... jeez, we have no ability to use language in any way that isn't weaponized to satisfy some internal psychological need... the modern world makes us more butt-hurt, the digital world confirms who we are all oppressed and looked down upon and there is a "they" who is doing this TO us and we use social media platforms to express our unmitigated grievance, grievance, grievance...

It's exhausting.

BTW, why is your "identity" so protected on BlueSky but exposed here on DL. The structure of the sites seems reversed.

Last, I spend most of my time on Reddit... which is free and broadly open to many and easy to find content. It's like the internet when it was going to save the world, twenty years ago. I guess a museum, of sorts, before the internet was merely a vehicle for anger and resentment.

You proved my point. That's all I need to say.

R133 Ah, don't be "I'm rubber, you're glue..." We are better than that. Someone responding to you, disagreeing with you, challenging you.. .is not fascism, or a microculture, it's just human dialog. Agreeing with everything you say is not the only way to encounter discourse, that's not what life promises us.

Peace be to you, kid.

No, you make shut up, are factually wrong, and fill blanks with projection. Toxic and nuts, like DL.

Namaste.

r113 is spewing BS.