Multiple deaths (and resurrections) of Twitter: from Pownce to Threads

The launch of Threads two weeks ago was the most successful in the history of digital products. New social network? goals, clone of Twitter under the umbrella of Instagrambut does not depend on the photo platform and stories, signed the fastest user acquisition. 100 million in just one week, surpassing ChatGPT despite not being deployed within the European Union due to regulatory precautions.

Offer: simple Twitter, but which inherited the users (and followers) you had on Instagram when you opened the account, and which also promised to crowd out all sources of controversy and breaking news through algorithmic design. Meta and Mark Zuckerberg outlined two lessons that can only be learned in a company that has shaped how social platforms work more for harm than good. (and how they are monetized) that we all use today.

First: what people spend more time where we feel like on a fake cotton cloudwhat Zuck learned after the first big crisis of ancient Facebook, when he had already pushed the news out of the feed, and that he exploded to the limit in that mirror that feeds our egos, envy, admiration and curiosity just like Instagram.

Second: what the net is worth the people you find insidesomething that turns out to be very well known, because the old Facebook bases much of what it is now on acquiring apps with very strong communities already built, like Instagram itself or WhatsApp.

threads, from twitter killer final “we’ll see” in two weeks

By linking their Threads account to Instagram, they avoided empty bar syndrome. Bottom line: it feels like it worked from 1 minute, unlike many other clones. Twitter users, ecstatic about Musk’s comings and goings, have admitted that they were the ultimate clone, the one that could make the Titanic (or not) that Twitter is, simply sink.

However, a week later The first numbers also indicate that this hype has dropped, as has the number of users. Zuck seized the best moment to launch his alternative just after Musk made his most desperate move, reducing the reach of tweets, giving much more to paid Blue users.

It’s hard to imagine such an unreasonable solution for a network that continues to live off advertising (and that needs people to spend as much time as possible) is not born from another deeper problem, because in fact it does not make sense.

As it were, It looks like the streams have made more noise and done more damage than the numerous Twitter clones. And we’re not just talking about Mastodon and the alternatives that have emerged since Musk’s purchase. Twitter has been trying to copy almost since its birth. This is the history of his clones.

Pownce, the first one to try

Founded by Kevin Rose (founder of news aggregator Digg), Leah Culver and Daniel Burka, Pownce was marketed as a fortified Twitter when Blue Bird was only 2 years old.

The service allowed users to send messages, files, links, and events to their friends. Despite its innovative features and the promise of a richer user experience, Pownce failed to capture the imagination of users in the same way that Twitter did in its early years.

Barely lasted a year.

Mastodon, the most powerful decentralized option… With 10 million users

Mastodon emerged as a response to growing dissatisfaction with Twitter leadership seven years ago. As a decentralized and user-maintained network, it offered an attractive alternative to those weary of a network in which problems between its founders and managers had been constant long before Musk.

Offer decentralized and open source gives him everything to be a white knight collecting the ashes of Twitter.

Answer: Were you able to migrate your users? The answer is that even though he multiplied them by 5, there are still hardly 10 million active users.

Substack Notes: People who write newsletters talk about what they have written.

Substack Notes came into being a few months ago after a particular controversy between the writer and newsletter platform and the social network. An example of how easy it is to develop a Twitter clone, but it doesn’t shine without its community.

Substack didn’t provide data on Notes usage, but looking at their environment only shows self-referenced newsletter authors.

Bluesky, Jack’s favorite bet

Created as a project on Twitter, Bluesky aims to create a platform where each user can choose or create their own algorithm. An open and portable protocol similar to what we have with email.

While still in beta and by invitation, the waitlist barely exceeds 3 million users.

Thruth Social or Parler: if Twitter doesn’t let me in or I don’t like it, I’ll drive myself

Truth Social, created by Donald Trump, managed to attract a very specific niche of users, mostly conservatives who felt excluded from Twitter. Parler, rumored to have been bought by Kanye West at the time, plays the same profile.

And although its user base is quite small, a homogeneous member profile makes it attractive to some advertisers and it also appears to be lucrative thanks to the financial backing of political and interest groups.

Like it or not, perhaps Truth or Parler is a reflection how networks might work in the future, through small niches where echo chambers are not virtual, but by default.

Post.news: The alleged alternative that sought to keep Twitter journalists

Post.news is a platform for those who have only been on Twitter for news articles. While this prospect may seem attractive to some, the truth is that it doesn’t look like they’re moving forward.

Despite all Crises, challenges and misses MuskTwitter always seems to find a way to bounce back, at least so far. Only time will tell if it can hold its own as the flows continue to spread and reach Europe, but one thing is clear: Twitter’s resilience to its possible clones cannot be underestimated, as it can be assumed that, maybe if one day Twitter dies, it won’t leave a clear successor.