Will Avalanche X Lead to a New Social Media Landscape for Marketers?

On November 6, the day after the American elections, more than 115,000 users have deactivated their accounts on X. That’s the largest number in a single day since the mercurial Elon Musk took over the company.

In contrast, Threads and Bluesky saw an astronomical increase in new accounts. Bluesky says its user base now exceeds 15 million and Instagram head Adam Mosseri of Meta says Threads has now surpassed 275 million monthly active users. This activity is between 60% and 65% of the activity on X, and it is only expected to grow.

What does this mean for marketing?

Should you and your brand join Bluesky or create a brand page on Threads?

We asked CMI’s chief strategic advisor, Robert Rose, for his opinion. Continue reading or watch this video:

Users drive the cooperative

Call it the great flight from birds to butterflies – the growing migration of celebrities, influencers and large organizations leaving X for the booming social media platform Bluesky.

Actors, directors, musicians, journalists and now brands, agencies and marketing strategies are increasingly present. turn your back on citing concerns about hate speech, harassment, bots and controversial artificial intelligence policies under its owner, Elon Musk.

Last week, the Guardian media group, which includes The Guardian newspaper, joined the exodus, calling X a “toxic media platform.” Earlier this month, the Berlin Film Festival announced its departure. They join NPR, which left X in April 2023, and brands like 3M, UnitedHealth Group and Best Buy, which have kept their accounts but haven’t published in years. And then there are the brands that have pulled their advertising or left X altogether, including Apple, IBM and Disney.

A new independent network, Bluesky, is the haven for X-rated escapees. In recent weeks, the new platform has seen explosive growth, with more than a million users logging in in a single day and a total number of users exceeding 15 million. Its app tops the download charts for Apple and Google app stores.

Threads, Meta’s answer to X, had huge numbers when it launched in 2023, making it the fastest-growing social media network in history. In recent weeks, she has experienced a new wave of new accounts.

Should you expect a resurgence of organic content marketing and branding on these new text-driven microblogging platforms, just like you did on Twitter back in the day?

Well no. Let me explain.

I don’t think this activity is all about X.

Is this the start of a new era of microblogging?

Gone are the days when brands would set up shop on these platforms and try to create a constant stream of quality content that engages, entertains, or educates large audiences for organic traction.

This is not to say that brands should forgo customer service channels on these platforms or ignore their name claims. (On Bluesky, you can use your domain as your login.)

I also suspect that influencers on these recently popular platforms can contribute to the organic amplification of brand voices.

But in its heyday, the goal of microblogging was to create a news channel, entertainment channel, or leveraged brand voice that attracted engagement, shares, and subscriptions. These channels have evolved into feeds for celebrities, journalists, and others spreading news, and I think that’s where microblogging will stay, at least in the short term.

Yes, the big news will be that people – mostly people with small brands – will flock to Bluesky, Threads and other non-X microblogging sites to communicate directly with their fans. But I don’t see any strong argument for brands to put so much effort into this area.

Instead, marketers might be better off finding who — the CEO, the CMO, or all the salespeople — can speak through the brand voice. On LinkedIn, for example, I see that many brands exist to amplify their human voice, by reposting what people post.

Could these organic social networks, particularly microblogging, be the strategy of the future? Maybe. Perhaps microblogging will return to its roots as a way for people to quickly share and connect with each other.

As for organic social media marketing itself, the emphasis is on long term and value. Maybe it’s really focused on video platforms like TikTok, Reels, YouTube and others, where it’s less about connection and collaboration and more about content consumption.

Social media will definitely be an interesting space to follow.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute