Twitter: Best alternatives as Elon Musk buys social media site

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter could come core changes to the app’s identity.

Mr Musk has tweeted that buying the site was “an accelerant” to creating an app called X. Mr Musk has had access to the X.com domain since 2000, during which time he was working on PayPal.

X, if it ever comes to fruition, would be an “everything app” – a single place where users can access most, if not all, of their favourite online services and utilities. This kind of mobile software, also known as a ‘super app’, is reminiscent of platforms like WeChat in China, which began life as a messaging platform similar to WhatsApp, but has since become a mini-internet within a single app.

Mr Musk has also made allusions to Twitter becoming the ‘digital town square’, loosening its content moderation policies, and bringing back former president Donald Trump. He has suggested gutting the company - firing up to 75 per cent of employees - which may also have adverse effects on how Twitter operates.

All of this may encourage some users to jump ship and move to another platform. This is easier said than done. Twitter is not Facebook, which is not Instagram, which is not TikTok, which is not Reddit. Each offers slightly different experiences. They compete with each other primarily in the sense that time spent on one is not spent on another, in the same way Netflix’s head Reed Hastings has said his company "compete[s] with (and lose[s] to) Fortnite more than HBO”.

Twitter is a relatively small app. It has only 126 million users worldwide, significantly less than TikTok’s 500 million or Facebook’s 2.45 billion. Its influence is inflated by the presence of journalists, who often announce breaking news on the platform, as well as celebrities, and finally, the specific kind of virality on the platform that can give any user 15 minutes of fame - for good or ill.

The app’s small number of users, and features like the Quote Tweet button, means it is likely many people could see one, super-viral piece of content that then sets the discourse - which then repeats daily.

That content could be from TikTok, or Reddit, or Instagram, or another website - which have all stolen enough of each others’ features to be easily replicable across platforms. All of this is to say that, in looking for a Twitter alternative, users will not find one-to-one parity in the same way Instagram (or at least, its Reel’s subsection) competes with TikTok.

The closest thing to Twitter, in terms of looks and functionality, is Mastodon. The platform is federated, meaning that there is no single website; users join an ‘instance’ that is similar to a subcommunity (the main one is mastodon.social) that interests them.

“If what you want to talk about most fits into a clear category (maybe it’s video games or art or queer life or coding or fiction or whatever) then it might be worth making your first server one where that will primarily host that sort of content”, Mastodon explains.

“You’ll be able to chatter to people on other servers, no matter which one you choose. Remember, this is like email and you can still email your mum on her ancient Yahoo account from your Gmail, for example.”

Each instance has different rules, posting guidelines, and a smaller user base - all of which means it should be easier to interact with people and see less spam and harassment.

Otherwise, the platform a user might want to move onto depends on what they used Twitter for. Those looking for an endless stream of entertainment will be drawn to TikTok, while people who enjoyed the niche subcultures of ‘film Twitter’, ‘black Twitter’, ‘fashion Twitter’ and so on will probably head to Reddit.

For more direct communication with people they know, Instagram will probably become the social of choice; for direct communication with strangers, linked by a shared interest, Discord is better for a ‘Reddit, but a chatroom’ vibe.

Otherwise, it is more likely that users won’t delete Twitter outright but rather ween off it as Millenials did with Facebook and Gen Z has done with Instagram (and Facebook).

The bird app will likely become more insular as it loses its key charm, as Tumblr did, and eventually gather dust as content creators and cultural icons move elsewhere; or it will become the ‘super app’ that billionaires dream it could be; or it gets sold after a few weeks or months, and life goes on.

In a world where the ghost of Vine still haunts the fastest-rising social media app that was, at one point, going to be owned by Walmart, and where Facebook is pushing an immersive interne, anything could happen - especially under Elon Musk.