Since Elon Musk’s purchase of X, formerly known as Twitter, CNN states that according to an analysis of a Fidelity report, the platform has dropped by 80% in value.
As a Forbes article by Connor Murray highlights, many users have taken problems with Musk’s new changes. One of the earliest controversies is the complete transformation of the verification system.
Twitter was the first social media platform to use a check mark to distinguish accounts run by celebrities, prominent figures, or organizations from fakes. Since then, other apps such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok have also given the mark to large accounts or famous individuals.
The mark would lose its well-established purpose on the platform that started it. In 2022, Musk introduced a subscription program called Twitter Blue, now X Premium. Users could now buy the verification check, but it has been suddenly restored to some official or celebrity accounts. Even though Musk emphasizes a focus on free speech, subscribers were promised that their replies would get “prioritized.”
It’s unclear whether the subscription directly boosts someone’s reach or prominence, but this potentially sets up a situation where the people willing to support X have a louder voice than others. Considering Musk’s heavy involvement in politics, those paying for X Premium and engaging in political discussions are more likely to share his beliefs.
Ryan Banta, a history teacher at Parkway Central and coach for track, has used the platform for both school and personal reasons. Banta noticed a change in which users were promoted in his feed, specifically Musk’s tweets.
“I’m not spending a lot of time looking at his posts and yet that is the first thing that I notice when I open it up, and I feel like that tells me that he has a bigger microphone than most people on X,” Banta said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily the goal of freedom of speech that he’s looking for in the marketplace of ideas.”
With X’s declining usage, multiple alternative apps are recieving an influx of new users. Primarily, Threads and Bluesky. Threads originates from the company behind Facebook and Instagram, Meta, while BlueSky was founded by the former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey.
According to data from SimilarWeb, though, X’s estimated 45.7 million monthly downloads dwarves Bluesky’s average of 3.6 million.
A poll conducted by PCH Publications’ Instagram page which asked users whether they primarily use X or Bluesky. Out of 59 participants, 55 answered X and 4 answered BlueSky.
One of these 4 individuals includes Ben Silvermintz, the choir teacher at Parkway Central. Silvermintz once used X, but migrated platforms.
“I joined Bluesky for a few reasons. First, my X feed algorithm was out of control with stuff that I wasn’t interested in or didn’t want to see. Second, I noticed fewer and fewer actual news stories were finding their way into my feed,” Silvermintz wrote in an email interview. “Finally, several of the folks I follow in sports and news media either migrated to Bluesky exclusively or were going to begin posting more on that service.”
Silvermintz still uses X, but less frequently due to many of these media accounts moving.
“It was my primary source for news for several years. I follow a lot of media sources (sports, news, weather, etc) along with individual posters who are either entertaining or informative,” Silvermintz wrote. “Rather than delete my account, I simply took the app off of my phone and redownload it for football on Saturdays each week.”
In an NBC article, six people were asked why they changed to Bluesky or Threads, one of the reasons mentioned was bots. Banta reported a similar issue with botted accounts that make politically charged posts.
“I don’t know that there’s been a lot of thoughtfulness in some of the unrestricted unadulterated freedom that they consider on there. For example, I’m for real people having freedom of speech,” Banta said. “I’m not for bots trying to gaslight, trigger, and anger people. And I see that coming from both polar opposite political entities in Twitter and I have a big problem with that.”
Fake accounts are also a major problem outside of political spaces, as they seem to impact most users’ feeds.
“There’s just a lot of garbage. No matter what you’re reading about (interest rates, college football, public education, politics) you invariably stumble on a bot and other nonsense that has nothing to do with what you’re reading about. It’s a cluster,” Silvermintz wrote.
With X being a major social media platform–especially during its time as Twitter–and having existed for almost twenty years now, it’s more likely that the social media will never truly go away. X still remains a center for communication and the spreading of ideas.
“When threads came out, a lot of people moved there and then a lot of people came back,” Banta said. “Just like with people threatening to leave a country or leaving a social media platform saying it and doing it is two different things.
