The Top 50 Twitter Alternatives, Vol. 3

This RETRO series offers a journalistic—not personal—assessment of how new, emerging, and rediscovered social media platforms are faring in the wake of the gradual collapse of Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Feb 06, 2023

Enough is enough. Bye Twitter. – Dariusz Więckiewicz 🇬🇧

Introduction

This ranking is an outgrowth of my work as a curatorial journalist. I’ve taken it upon myself, in the midst of what experts are variously calling the Twitter Migration or the Digital Diaspora, to curate, analyze, and synthesize an exceedingly large number of reliable major-media reports on the new, emerging, and re-emerging contenders to Twitter’s current role in the digital landscape. By considering what experts are saying and what the data tell us, this ranking intends to assess how each of the sites listed below is faring in its bid to become a (or even “the”) leading post-Twitter alternative.

One thing that many who read this ranking may not be aware of is that there are some long-existing sites that are now in the mix for a big comeback. With that in mind, this ranking not only includes new sites, sites that are on temporary hiatus, and sites that haven’t even launched a beta yet, but also existing sites that in theory could become a Twitter alternative but (as you’ll see below) have some stiff competition for that status.

So don’t be surprised if you see some very well known digital platforms ranked low in this particular ranking. It doesn’t mean those platforms aren’t large and/or healthy still, simply that they’re less likely to be where Twitter refugees end up as the mass exodus from Twitter continues.

As most RETRO readers know, I now have accounts on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Tribel Social, Spoutible, Goodreads, Reddit, Substack, Discord, Medium, Post News, LinkedIn, YouTube, and CounterSocial. I had a Mastodon account until recently. Yet for all that, this is not a ranking of my personal preferences. Rather, it is a ranking of how these sites are performing in the contest to get the bulk of Twitter’s run-off when a site with 365.5 million users makes its final drop into the digital sea.

I expect to continue updating this ranking as time goes on, as the question of where Twitter users will go post-Twitter is one of the most intriguing—and game-changing—dynamics in this uniquely volatile stage of the digital age.

{Note: Past editions of The Top 50 Twitter Alternatives can be found at these links: I, II.}

A Note on Macro-Blogging Platforms and Image-, Audio-, and Video-Based Platforms

Substack, Medium, and other conventional blogging platforms are eligible for the list below even though there’s some reason to question whether platforms of this sort are actually in the particular race this ranking is measuring. Why? Because while they are not, properly speaking, social media platforms, they are blogging platforms that have sufficient social media-like features to warrant inclusion here—not least because they appear likely to add even more social media-like components as the competition for the run-off from Twitter heats up.

So I have ranked these and similar platforms in the spot(s) we would expect them to be ranked in if either (a) Twitter refugees begin to question en masse what “social media” is (or should be) in addition to where they wish to practice it—and especially relevant concern now that Twitter is dramatically increasing its character limit to make itself more like a conventional blogging site—and/or (b) these few platforms, as noted above seems likely to be the case, continue adding substantial social media-like components.

By the same token, platforms that place a particular emphasize on audio, video, and/or images rather than simply text—TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest being just a few examples—are listed here due to the possibility that Gen Z and Millennials may decide that text-based social media platforms are dead post-Twitter and that (in the post-Twitter digital sphere) nothing actually should replace a site like Twitter.

And for those who may be wondering why Truth Social has enjoyed a meteoric rise since the last ranking, this is readily explained by a single piece of breaking news: that Donald Trump does not plan to return to Twitter until Summer 2023 at the earliest, meaning that Truth Social may enjoy a few months more of being the preeminent far-right social media platform. RETRO does expect that Trump will eventually jettison his failing platform, but for now—just temporarily—it will retain a certain cachet for far-right extremists who use social media.

Key

🟢 = A platform that has risen noticeably in the rankings since the last edition.
🔴 = A platform that has dropped noticeably in the rankings since the last edition.
🔵 = A platform that is new to the ranking since the last edition.
🟡 = A platform that is decentralized.
🟣 = A platform that is not yet public.
☢️ = A platform that is designed to be a safe space for far-right extremists.
👁‍🗨 = A platform that is designed to facilitate sharing of images, audio, and/or video.