Twitter more user activity than ever: CEO
Despite, or perhaps because of, competition from Threads, Twitter’s number of users and hours of usage are skyrocketing on record after record. How is that possible?
Twitter is not in trouble for the first time. Twitter, and especially Twitter boss Elon Musk, has both ardent enthusiasts and sworn enemies. There doesn’t really seem to be a middle ground. More and more hijackers are also coming to the coast to take over Twitter’s market position. But remarkably enough, in terms of visitor numbers, Twitter is only improving. What’s going on, and might rival Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy backfire?
Entropy always wins
For anyone who hasn’t slept through a thermodynamics class, or high school chemistry class, it’s clear how powerful the Second Law of Thermodynamics is. Roughly paraphrased, this means that a system always strives for the maximum disorder, or freedom.
Musk can be accused of many things, but not of bringing order and peace. There is always something to do on Twitter. If it is not the denunciation of dissenters, then it is the umpteenth riot in which Musk more often than not plays a leading role. Like the boxing match he might or might not enter into with rival Mark “Zuck” Zuckerberg.
Threads, a poor substitute for Twitter
Compared to this, Facebook, and its latest activity Threads, is very boring. A hyperactive censorship, combined with an Overton window that looks more like a toilet window than a panoramic window, only makes this possible for the more well-behaved and above all: not too stubborn person, who can survive here for more than a few hours without being banned for often arbitrary reasons. Transgender critical people in particular have to suffer.
You will also receive advice on Threads not to follow certain controversial groups and individuals. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if in a subsequent incarnation of this latest Zuckerberg creation your social credit score is negatively affected as well.
And unlike the (since the takeover by Musk) fairly mild bans on Twitter, this really means a permanent ban, where you also lose access to your Instagram account. Actually, we only know this kind of strict censorship from China and Russia. And from Facebook, during the height of the corona epidemic.
In short: enough reasons for me to choose Twitter over Threads. Annoying Twitter users can block you (the recommended method for the more sensitive souls), report you (for those who identify as lamprey), or get back at you with hard arguments, and hopefully they’ll back off. Which brings us back to the Second Law and the supremacy of entropy.
The number of Twitter users is growing mysteriously
Threads are growing fast. More and more Instagram users are installing the Threads app. Zuckerberg can take advantage of Instagram’s huge number of users. However, growth now appears to be leveling off. At the time of writing this article, there are 108 million users. Unsurprisingly, “zuck” (as Zuckerberg calls himself on Threads) is simply transferring Instagram users to Threads.
More remarkable, however, is the strong growth in the number of Twitter users. The number of followers of top ten accounts such as that of @elonmusk himself and the Indian president @narendramodi grew by more than 20 percent in the past month, a typical Instagram celebrity like @Cristiano (the footballer with the last name Ronaldo) even by 50 percent. The most likely explanation is that quite a few Instagram users are discovering the joys of Twitter.
The explanation, again according to hardcore Musk fans: freedom. The Elon himself also seems to share this opinion. Will entropy win over Zuckerberg’s 2 billion users of Instagram and Facebook? Or is Zuckerberg’s massive social media empire eating up Twitter with skin and hair? We shall see.
