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by anigbrowl 34 days ago
This isn't a good argument. I did move most of my social activity off X on to other platforms, but despite months of effort I had little luck persuading other people to do the same.

It's not because they love Musk, the network effects are just too strong. Media companies mostly set up Bluesky accounts, for example, but they get a fraction of the traffic there. Many elected officials just stayed on X, or if they set up accounts on other platforms they underused or abandoned those which did not get a lot of traffic. World leaders are all still on X. I think it's foolish to blame individual users for 'not leaving hard enough' when all but a very few of them have too little influence to overcome the 'gravity' of the market leader.

3 comments

If you're actually creating content or running a business of some sort, it's hard to drop a platform, but for your average user it's fairly easy.

It's hard to tell how many people have left, but it's clearly significant.

Nobody I know personally uses X. If you want real network effects, try Whatsapp. X can be ignored without missing anything.
I just told you why the network effects are so strong and you responded with anecdata about your personal social circle. You're ignoring the fact that X remains the platform where countries and many other official entities post official statements of policy first, and much other news breaks there first.
I left X after it became a wastland. Most of what was in my feed were accounts I did not followed and really really did not wanted to follow.