Considering an X-odus? Here are some tips
Human rights defenders and civil society members probably started using Twitter in the moment it was created, and at least by 2013 Security in a Box acknowledged this trend by publishing a guide on how to use Twitter securely. After recurrent updates, that guide still exists, although the name of the platform has since changed to X.
Over the years, Twitter has been used to distribute news quickly and to engage in open debates with selected communities of people sharing similar interests. Being mostly accessible to anyone without the need to create an account, it could be used to follow both what was happening in the world or in a certain sphere and what people were saying about it. A platform to follow individuals and organizations focusing on specific topics and sectors, Twitter helped make connections, and sometimes even friends, across the globe.
But like all centralized platforms, what Twitter allowed us to do largely depended on its terms of service and on the choices its owners were making. So after Elon Musk bought it in 2022, its policies and management changed together with its name, which became X after few months, in July 2023.
X is now mostly accessible only to people who have an account, it hardly moderates any abuse or disinformation, and has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of independent civil, human rights and other organizations that used to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform. Furthermore, the company now reduces the reach of posts containing links (especially to news websites) and is generally showing an increase in the popularity of right-leaning users.
As a consequence, X has become a more toxic environment where harassers have the upper hand, and many important users and organizations have started leaving this platform. Among the media outlets and organizations that have recently left X there are, just to name a few, The Guardian, NPR,EDRi and Statewatch.
While X does not offer the same experience Twitter used to provide, some people and organizations still use it to distribute news, stay in touch with their contacts and participate in debates. It is certainly possible to keep doing so on other platforms, but some can reach a wider audience on X than on its alternatives.
Yet a campaign to kickstart a massive exodus from X has started, and there are some tools that allow you to stay in touch with your X network elsewhere and to troubleshoot other issues that may arise by moving to Mastodon or Bluesky. What follows is a few suggestions on what to consider when deciding where to move and what tools to use to make your move smoother.
What to consider before you leave X
If you are considering to leave X, it's a good idea to ask yourself some questions that will help you decide which alternative platforms or tools you can switch to. The first thing to note on this regard is that nothing will ever replace the experience you had on Twitter until 2022: X has replaced Twitter and has changed its dynamics for good, and although its number of users is still impressive, the open discussion platform it offered in the past has disappeared with its new policies and nothing has replaced that (yet).
In order to decide what alternative platforms you can switch to, ask yourself what you are using X for and what your needs are. Some reasons why people have been using Twitter and X are, for example:
- Distributing updates on one's activities
- Getting updates on news and current events
- Participating in political discourse
- Joining discussions on specific topics
- Entertainment
- Sharing videos
- Networking with like-minded people
- Brand promotion
Also ask yourself what communities you need to connect to: is it a wider audience or a specific niche? Do you want to follow celebrities, a group of people specializing on a topic, affinity groups or a group of friends? Do you just need to send updates to people who want to follow you or would you like to participate in conversations?
Alternatives to X
Depending on the answers you give to the questions above, you can make a plan for moving to one or more of the following alternatives:
Bluesky is currently the most popular alternative to X, and many people leaving X are moving to this platform.
Founded by Twitter co-creator Jack Dorsey, Bluesky makes it possible to tailor your user experience and to decide how your conversations are moderated. The down side is that Bluesky also belongs to a company, so if the company is sold to someone else its policies might change again. And while Bluesky is supposed to be based on a decentralized network, at the moment no other instance is connected to that network (although efforts are underway to change this situation).
The second most used alternative to X, Mastodon is a federated social networking platform that respects users' privacy and is based on free and open-source software.
It requires some more planning to start using it because you will have to choose the server you want to use, based on its community, code of conduct, moderation rules and content policies. You can choose your home server in the list of all Mastodon servers on joinmastodon.org, or also by checking where people and organizations you follow on X have been migrating to.
If you would like to start a Mastodon account, you can start from Fedi.Tips, an unofficial non-technical guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse.
- Threads (and other Meta platforms)
Threads is Meta’s microblogging platform. Some people are moving to it, and it can be a good idea to use it if you are focusing on advertising a brand and already are using other Meta platforms. However, Threads doesn't have as many users as other platforms and is not actively used by many people or entities. As for all other commercial social networking platforms, we suggest you to be cautious when deciding to create an account there.
Besides Threads, you may consider also moving your X activities to Instagram and Facebook, especially if they are used by many of your X followers already. If you decide to use these platforms, check out the Security in a Box guides on how to use Instagram and Facebook more securely.
- A social media management tool that lets you use multiple different platforms at once
Another choice you can make, even without the need to leave X completely, is to start using a social media management tool that allows you to post on all the existing platforms at the same time. You can have a look at the topsocialtools website to choose the solution that works best for your needs.
If your need is to follow and join conversations on specific issues, you can consider moving to Reddit, where you can follow topics of every possible kind, often without even the need to log in and with a focus on relevance given by the platform's upvote and comment system.
If you use X as a professional, to network with colleagues, look for work and follow your industry, you can consider LinkedIn as an alternative to X.
- An RSS feed reader
If you are using X to keep up-to-date on news, consider using an RSS feed reader to follow blogs, news outlets and most websites.
- Follow instructions on SocialBee to learn how to find the RSS feed of almost any site.
- Learn how to read your RSS feed on Thunderbird.
- On Firefox, you can use an RSS feed reader add-on like Feedbro.
- Your own blog or website
If you are using X to distribute updates on your activities, and you have capacity to manage your own site, consider setting up a blog or website. You can also publish your RSS feed and accept comments to get feedback and have conversations about the news you publish.
- A newsletter or a Telegram channel
If you need to keep your audience up-to-date on your activities, consider curating a newsletter or a Telegram channel. This will allow you freedom of choice regarding the content you publish and you can also choose to monetize this activity by using a newsletter tool like Substack or Mailchimp, or a premium account on Telegram.
Some useful tools
Once you have planned your X-odus, you will find it useful to know that there are some tools that will make your move easier.
- Cyd helps you create a local, private backup of your data — like all of your tweets, retweets, likes, bookmarks, and direct messages. Once you've done this, Cyd helps you delete all your tweets. If you subscribe to the premium version, you can also choose what data you want to delete from your X account and you can use Cyd to migrate your data from X to Bluesky.
- Read Cyd's step-by-step instructions on how to close down your X account while keeping your username and telling your followers where they can find you. Want to quit X in 2025? Here's how to do it the right way with Cyd .
- OpenPortability helps you migrate your data and contacts from X to Bluesky and Mastodon.
- If you move to Bluesky, BlueNotify will let you get notifications on new posts by the people you follow (a feature Bluesky does not offer at the moment).
- Xcancel lets you read posts on X without having to log in to the platform.
Would you like a new security guide on one of these alternatives?
If you would like Security in a Box to curate a guide on one of the alternatives to X, we would like to know! Reach out to us by writing an email to siab @ frontlinedefenders . org.
Image by Walter Baxter licensed for reuse under a CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons Licence