Twitter is struggling under its new owner, Elon Musk. You may remember that its former head of trust and safety said that Twitter is unsafe under Musk, while many of the microblogging platform's advertisers have paused their ads on it due to content moderation issues.
As a result, many people are believing that Twitter will soon go offline permanently, with it being increasingly unsafe, unprofitable, and most importantly, broken.
Many Twitter users are now looking for alternatives to keep their social media presence running independently of Twitter's ultimate fate. Here are some of those alternatives if you're looking to jump ship.
Mastodon
The most popular Twitter alternative as of the writing of this article, Mastodon is an open-source Twitter alternative that lets people access a specialized version of the site, called "instaces," which are usually themed by topic, per Make Use Of.
What's unique about Mastodon is that users can sort of run their social networks thanks to it being open source. As such, users can set up their instance and run it like a moderator.
However, Lifewire found that setting up an Instance to be complicated, and joining the platform can be overwhelming initially. Since users can set up their Instances, community guidelines vary from one instance to another.
Hive
Hive is another Twitter alternative that saw an increase in its user count when Musk took over the popular microblogging platform. According to digital analytics platform Sensor Tower, the app saw 871,000 worldwide installs on Nov. 22, with a third of that happening the week before.
The app feels "extremely similar" to Twitter and Instagram due to its focus on text and visuals, per PetaPixel, with users able to follow other accounts, post messages of any length (no character limit!), or photos, and even like, comment and re-share others' posts.
Hive also has a feed that lets users follow different topics and hashtags, much like Twitter. However, the app does have some detrimental qualities: it can crash frequently, while the performance of its identity verifications can be iffy. The app is also sometimes slow, but having an app that has the qualities of "old social media" can be worth the shot.
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Clubhouse
Unlike the previous entries in this list, Clubhouse is more on listening than reading. According to Tech Target, Clubhouse is an audio-only app where people talk to each other in a live podcast platform format, kind of like a meeting with strangers through an online audio call.
Aside from this unique take, Clubhouse is much like Twitter in many regards. Users can listen to podcast forums tackling various topics, such as sports, literature, and even parenting, but only using their voices - whether this spin is an advantage or not depends on the user.
However, Hoot Suite said that the app has very limited analytics and limited accessibility, making it unideal for the hearing-impaired and content creators.
Most importantly, the app has no verification, meaning a user wouldn't know if their brand already has a presence in Clubhouse or not unless they search for it first before creating a room.
Amino
Amino is a Twitter alternative similar to Mastodon. It allows users to create their community around specific topics for them to moderate on their own. Though these communities generally cater to teens, the app has stricter guidelines than Twitter, which cuts down on toxicity.
An Amino community can contain polls, quizzes, and other interactive content for users to participate in, as well as create posts with photos and videos around them and chat with other users through audio calls.
Interestingly, users can create different handles in different communities, allowing them to keep their identities hidden.
Plurk
Finally, we have Plurk, a Taiwan-based app that is the most similar to Twitter without becoming Twitter. It caters to teens and young adults, features a 360-character limit, and it even has private messaging thanks to them being end-to-end encrypted, per Impact Social Media.
If you're looking for features that make you feel you're back in the age of Friendster and MySpace, Plurk supports total customization of a user's profile and wall.
Interestingly, Plurk allows for anonymous posting, keeping users' identities safe while posting their thoughts to the world. It also has a "Time Machine" feature that lets users see all of the plurks posted in the past.
However, some people could feel it is too similar to Twitter for their tastes, while others could feel concerned about the website's inability to filter posts by language.
Related Article: Twitter is Less Safe Under Elon Musk Management, Says Former Head of Trust and Safety
