Chicago — Over the last week, Twitter seems to be in scrambles as users suddenly announce that they’re creating accounts for other apps, such as Threads, Spill, and Bluesky. They were made as direct competitors to Twitter, but how many people actually care about them?
On July 1, Elon Musk tweeted that non-verified users on Twitter would be limited to reading just 600 tweets a day, with users receiving a “rate limit exceeded” message should they go over the limit.
Soon after on July 5, Threads, an Instagram app, launched with a similar format to Twitter. Bluesky, another Twitter competitor, has been available to users through a waitlist format. It was also developed by the former CEO of Twitter, further adding to the rivalry.
Plenty of companies are moving to the new platforms, but that’s to be expected. What are teens saying about these apps?
Robin Gillespie, a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep, works for art commissions using social media. When asked about the new alternatives to Twitter, she said, “Twitter was the best place to market [art] because Instagram’s algorithm is extremely finicky… and TikTok is basically just luck.” They added, “For artists like me, social media is a tool for free marketing.”
Ezan Charo, a ChiArts senior, also uses Twitter to market his art, in this case, his writing. “I am likely not going to be trying the different Twitter replacement apps,” he said. “Twitter itself is pretty noisy and I don’t need more online social media in my life.”
It seems that for teens who use social media to market their products, even though there might be more options out there now, leaving Twitter isn’t a very viable option.
This guest post is in partnership with True Star Media.