Social Media Shifts: User Growth in Blue Sky and Threads

Blue Sky and Threads are experiencing significant user growth as people seek alternatives to X.

### Surge in User Engagement on Blue Sky and Threads Post-Election
* 📈 Anecdotal evidence suggests a **significant influx of users** to platforms like Blue Sky and Threads following the recent election, with many expressing their **intention to explore alternatives to X**.
* 🌊 Blue Sky reported a remarkable addition of **700,000 new users in just one week**, bringing their total accounts to **14.5 million**, indicating a notable trend in **user migration**.
* 📱 Threads has regained its position as the **number one free app** in the US App Store, a first since before the election, reflecting a **renewed interest in rival social media platforms**.
* 🗣 Users on Threads seem to desire a **Twitter-like experience**, yet the platform's focus on **avoiding political discussions** has led to mixed engagement, especially for **political content**.
* 📰 Many users have expressed frustration over Threads not providing timely news updates, as evidenced by posts that were **over 24 hours old** on election night.
* 🔍 Despite being less than two years old, Threads is still evolving and figuring out its niche, while also navigating the challenges of **ad implementation and competition from platforms like TikTok**.
* 📉 The potential ban of TikTok in the US could benefit Meta, particularly with its **Instagram Reels feature**, but continued TikTok availability may **dampen Meta's stock potential and user growth**.

Anecdotally, I've seen it on threads, people saying I'm joining post the election, but is it happening en masse? Is that data to prove this out? Yeah, I've seen it anecdotally as well. My feed on both services has just been full of people sort of introducing themselves saying, Hey, I'm just coming over to see if the water is warm on this side leaving X. But the numbers seem to suggest this is happening as well. So Blue Sky says it has added 700,000 new users in the last week. They now have 14.5 million total accounts that have been created. So 700,000 is a pretty significant jump for them in one week. And then Threads was the number one free app in the US App Store yesterday. The first time it had been in that number one spot in a couple of weeks since before the election. So you can see that both kind of rival

services are having a little bit of a spike here, a little bit of a moment as people, as you say, are looking for an alternative to X. How are they using things like threads? People have many ways of seeing that matter as not wanting to be a place for political discussion. But is it therefore going to thread through? Is it people behaving in a different manner? I think people want to go to threads and sort of feel like they're getting that Twitter experience. But to your point, because Matt is sort of leaning away from politics, they're not getting it for the most part. And so as a result, I see a lot of mixed kind of bag, right? I see some people who try to talk politics. They're not really getting that engagement and they're complaining about it. I know for me on election night, I remember, excuse me, the day after the election, I pulled something up on

threads that I thought was brand new, you know, election-related information. I found it. It was all more than 24 hours old. Right. So it's not really a great place right now for breaking news. I think for people who used Twitter and use X for news and especially political news, they're probably not going to scratch that itch over on threads right now. But remember, this platform's not even two years old. It's not even a year and a half old. So it's still sort of figuring out exactly what it's for. But it does have a large audience to do that. And briefly, I mean, it hasn't switched on ads yet. Interestingly, in Europe, we've been reporting that there's going to be less personalized ads for matter in Europe. But there's also news that maybe we see TikTok not banned in the US. That's something that you've been talking about a lot.

Is that impacting matter and other social media companies? It very well could. Right? Because if TikTok does ultimately get banned in January, the number one company that should benefit would be Meta, because they have a direct clone of the TikTok product with reels in Instagram. Right. So if TikTok kind of survives and continues, a lot of that upside that people might be baking into Meta Stock Price is going to go away. So I think it's logical to think that if Meta is down, it could be related to this idea that Trump might try to say, TikTok.

Looking for X.com Alternatives

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User Migration to Rival Social Media Platforms

There has been a noticeable increase in users migrating to Blue Sky and Threads after the election, with Blue Sky adding 700,000 new users in one week and Threads becoming the number one free app in the US App Store.

Both platforms are experiencing a spike in activity as people seek alternatives to X.

Users on Threads are attempting to replicate the Twitter experience, but the platform's lean away from political discussions is resulting in mixed engagement.

Threads is struggling to provide breaking news, with election-related information being over 24 hours old.

The platform, not yet two years old, is still figuring out its purpose despite having a large audience.

It hasn't switched on ads yet, and there are reports of less personalized ads for Meta in Europe, along with the possibility of TikTok not being banned in the US.

Impact of TikTok Ban on Meta and Other Social Media Companies

The potential ban of TikTok could benefit Meta, as they have a similar product with Instagram Reels.

If TikTok survives, it may diminish the positive impact on Meta's stock price.

Meta's decline could be linked to the uncertainty surrounding TikTok's future.