On November 6, the day after the US election, Over 115,000 users deactivated their accounts on X. It was the most in a single day since the erratic Elon Musk took charge of the company.
Threads and Bluesky, on the other hand, have seen Surge in new accounts. Bluesky said its user base now exceeds 15 million, and Meta’s head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said Threads’ monthly active users now exceed 275 million. This activity accounts for between 60% and 65% of activity on X, and is only expected to grow.
What does this mean for marketing?
Should you and your brand join Bluesky or build a brand page on Threads?
We asked Robert Rose, chief strategist at CMI, for his opinion. Continue reading or watch this video:
User is flyingX coop
Call it the great flight from birds to butterflies – more and more celebrities, influencers and major organizations are leaving X for emerging social media platform Bluesky.
Actors, directors, musicians, journalists, and now brands, agencies, and marketing strategies are increasingly Turn your back on X, The reason was concerns over hate speech, harassment, bots and controversial artificial intelligence policies under owner Elon Musk.
Just last week, Guardian Media Group, which includes The Guardian, joined the ranks, labeling X a “toxic media platform.” Earlier this month, the Berlin Film Festival announced its cancellation. They join NPR (which left X in April 2023), as well as brands like 3M, UnitedHealth Group and Best Buy, which have retained their accounts but haven’t posted in years. Then there are brands that have pulled ads or pulled out of X entirely, including Apple, IBM and Disney.
A new independent network, Bluesky, is a haven for X escapees. The upstart platform has seen explosive growth in recent weeks, with more than 1 million users joining in a single day and more than 15 million total users. Its apps top the download charts on Apple and Google App stores.
Meta’s X version, Threads, had a large number of users when it launched in 2023, making it the fastest growing social media network in history. It has experienced another surge in new accounts over the past few weeks.
Should you expect organic content marketing and branding to resurgence on these new microblogging, text-centric platforms, just like you did on Twitter?
Well, no. Let me explain.
I don’t think this event is entirely about X.
Is this the beginning of a new era for Weibo?
Gone are the days when brands would set up shop on these platforms and try to create a steady stream of quality content to engage, entertain or educate large audiences to gain organic traction.
This is not to say that brands should abandon customer service pipelines on these platforms or neglect branding. (On Bluesky, you can use your domain as your account.)
I also suspect influencers on these recently popular platforms can help with the organic amplification of a brand’s voice.
But in its heyday, Weibo’s goal was to build a conduit for news, entertainment, or something that leveraged a brand’s voice to attract engagement, sharing, and subscriptions. These outlets are growing into news sources for celebrities, journalists, and others reporting information, and I think this is where Weibo will stay, at least in the short term.
Yes, the big news will be people – mostly people with a bit of a brand – flocking to Bluesky, Threads and other non-X microblogging sites to communicate directly with fans. But I don’t see a strong reason for brands to put in the same effort.
Instead, marketers might be better served identifying who—the CEO, chief marketing officer, or all salespeople—can speak through the brand’s voice. For example, on LinkedIn, I see many brands that exist to amplify people’s voices and retweet what people post.
Can this kind of organic social media, especially Weibo, become a future strategy? Maybe. Perhaps Weibo will return to its roots as a way for people to quickly share and connect with each other.
As for organic social media marketing itself, the focus is on long-form and valuable. Maybe it’s really focused on video platforms like TikTok, Reels, YouTube, etc., where it’s less focused on connections and collaboration and more focused on content consumption.
Social media will certainly be an interesting space to watch.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
