The Hypocrisy Epidemic: Elon Musk’s Twitter Exodus Farce Exposed
A tidal wave of supposed “exodus” claims has been flooding the internet, as users flock to Meta’s Threads from Elon Musk’s Twitter. But the data tells a different story. It’s not just about people leaving, but also about those who never came to Twitter in the first place.
The hype is palpable, with hashtag campaigns like #Xodus and #TwitterExodus spreading like wildfire. But a closer look at the numbers reveals a more nuanced truth. App store and website traffic data don’t show a significant shift in users from Twitter to Threads.
Twitter’s growth rates are steady, if not sluggish. Sensor Tower reports a 2% increase in average daily active users worldwide from July to August, while Threads’ daily active users remained “largely flat”. Even in the US, where users are allegedly abandoning ship, X and Threads saw 2% and 3% growth, respectively, in daily active users over the past month.
But what about app downloads? You’d think a mass exodus would result in a significant drop in Twitter’s app downloads, but no. According to Sensor Tower, Twitter’s US average daily app downloads actually increased 14% in August, while Threads saw a 2% decline. Global app installs on both platforms remained unchanged in August compared to July.
Website traffic provider Similarweb analyzed the data and found that Twitter.com’s website traffic grew 1.4% week-over-week, while Threads traffic declined by 1.5%. Another app intelligence provider, Appfigures, also detected no evidence of an “X exodus” as of yet.
So, what’s driving the hysteria? Perhaps it’s simply a case of Twitter users talking about leaving, and Threads users talking about the perceived exodus. Or maybe the algorithm on Threads is simply highlighting posts about quitting Twitter, making the noise seem louder than it actually is.
But here’s the real kicker: it’s not just Twitter and Threads fighting for attention. Decentralized networks like Mastodon and Nostr, and startups like Bluesky, Spoutible, and Spill, are vying for the attention of former Twitter users. The market is crowded, and the noise is getting louder.
In the end, it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the narrative. And the narrative is that Elon Musk’s Twitter is in chaos, and Meta’s Threads is the salvation. But the data says otherwise.
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