The Measurement of the Microblogosphere
+ How the Fediverse could change the Social-Content Game for good
Good afternoon, Munich | Good Morning, New York | Sweet Dreams, Seattle. This is Daniel, feeling a bit excited after curating and editing today's issue.
Reflecting on Flipboard's approach to embracing the Fediverse — evolving into an open directory for the decentralized web — I've realized its potential to significantly enhance the position of media and content creators in the social media landscape, fulfilling a long-held dream.
This approach, particularly when eventually connected with the audiences reachable through networks like Threads, promises benefits for all. It signals a departure from the era of platforms dominating every aspect of content distribution. Speaking of these audiences in the microblogosphere … well, that's a topic worth exploring further.
This morning, I sent out the 62nd personal welcome email. The newsletter only started last Sunday, so I'm really pleased with the number. What do you think, when will we reach the first 100? I'm ready for 38 more welcome emails, especially after seeing how you guys have been stitching up on Threads.
However, the engagement department of this newsletter has expressed its disappointment. The quiz about the Threads user base – wrong answers only – didn't go as planned. Let's give engagement another try at the end of this email (and let's not prove the theory that social media pros actually dislike engagement).
What's inside This Issue: I know many of you just opened a Threads account for your newsroom, company, or as creators. But as you scroll down, you'll find instructions for knitting together another channel. Or are you already on Flipboard? I'm confident that after reading the deep dive further down, you'll add this to your list for 2024.
Bring more Yarn: 160 Million Users on Threads
Just five days after its launch in July, Threads joined the 100 Million User club, shattering ChatGPT's record from earlier this year. Since then, the Numbers department has been relatively quiet. However, thanks to big data, some AI, and smart minds, we can piece together a pretty comprehensive picture using a combination of external metrics. Two companies tried to leverage their content marketing to tap into the vibrant Threads coverage.
🚀 Threads this week became the most downloaded app in Apple's US App Store.
🌍 In the first three days following its EU launch, Threads was downloaded 2.6 million times in the EU, according to Data.ai. Italy, Germany, and France were the top markets.
📈 Meanwhile, Threads’ user base has soared to 160 million users, as revealed by an update from a Threads tracker provided by Quiver, a FinTech company offering alternative data to retail investors.
📊 According to the tracker history, this represents a growth of 20 million users in just one month. Threads took three months and three weeks to grow from 120 to 140 million users. Some users report even more US activity, likely spurred by the EU surge. So, 160 million users after six months. Is it good? Is it bad? Let's dive into more numbers.
🐦 Twitter: 360 million users
🌀 Bluesky: 2 million users
🐘 Mastodon: 2 million users
🌐 Other Fediverse Networks: around 4 million users
And what about TikTok? 1.2 billion users. Snapchat is around 450 million. Perhaps we should be asking a different question: How big is the potential for the Microblogosphere? Or to be more precise:
Are people still interested in text-based social media?
Let's consider two perspectives in interpreting these numbers.
The decline of microblogging is part of a larger change in how we consume media — Caroline Mimbs Nyce in The Atlantic
Maybe this really is the end for the short text post, at least en masse. Or maybe our conception of “microblogging” is due for an update. TikTok videos are perhaps “just a video version of what the original microblogs were doing when they first started coming out in the mid-2000s — André Brock, media professor at Georgia Tech
Caroline Mimbs Nyce’s article for the Atlantic “Twitter’s Demise Is About So Much More Than Elon Musk” suggests that microblogging is an old-fashioned internet trend. So why engage with it? Shouldn't everyone allocate their resources to the users' preferred ways of consuming content? Let's delve into her arguments, beginning with X's decline:
🌐 Twitter's Transformation
New name: X
Staff layoffs
Outages
Return of banned accounts (Alex Jones, Donald Trump)
Loss of billions in ad revenue
🆕 New Social Networks
Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads launched
Threads by Meta reached 100 million users rapidly
Microblogging becoming niche with TikTok's rise
📉 Decline of Microblogging
Less focus on text posts
Short-form videos dominating (TikTok, Instagram)
💬 X's (Twitter) Status
Still dominant in microblogging
316 million peak users in July 2022, predicted to decline
Competitors like Threads and Bluesky have minimal impact
📊 Analytics and Predictions
Daily usage: 30 minutes on Twitter, 3 minutes on Threads
Increasing preference for short videos over text
TikTok and Instagram users spend more time daily
🤔 Future of Microblogging
Video-based microblogs gaining traction
Traditional microblogging could evolve with video formats
🌍 Impact on News and Politics
Twitter's role in real-time news updates and movements
Shift of news and political content to TikTok
Upcoming U.S. presidential election as a test for short-form videos
📢 Overall Insight: While Twitter (X) faces challenges and transformations, the rise of video platforms like TikTok signals a shift in social media consumption, potentially reshaping the future of microblogging and online communication.
Yes, but!
With approximately 500 million users, is this market size really that disappointing? 🤔
Microblogging can be likened to Candy Crush in terms of user base. It's in the same league.
As of early this year, Candy Crush Saga reached 500 million users, generating a total revenue of $20 billion as of September 2023.
For Meta, positioning a network in this league makes sense, given their dominance in the top tier:
Facebook: Over 2.9 billion monthly active users as of June 2023. 🌐
YouTube: Over 2.3 billion monthly active users as of April 2023. 🎥
WhatsApp: Over 2 billion monthly active users as of February 2023. 💬
TikTok: Over 1.1 billion monthly active users as of August 2023. 📹
Instagram: Over 1 billion monthly active users as of June 2023. 📸
Meta owns 3 out of the top 5 platforms. Check. ✅
And the 500 million user league?
Spotify: Over 500 million monthly active users as of July 2023. 🎵
Snapchat: Over 500 million monthly active users as of June 2023. 👻
Netflix: Over 500 million paid subscribers as of July 2023. 🍿
Candy Crush Saga: Over 500 million users. 🍬
Securing top spots in the first tier means the next best seats are in the second tier.
For X/Twitter, maintaining these numbers is a challenge for two reasons:
Elon Musk (enough said).
Before Musk, Twitter struggled to establish a solid business model. A more focused and agile approach might have helped, but it’s too late now.
Even Netflix is getting pricier for its subscribers, adding advertising to please investors. Spotify faces similar challenges, having made significant cuts this year. Meta, too, is downsizing, yet it still operates from a position of strength, putting Threads in a comfortable spot.
But what about the users? Are they shifting from text to video? Not exactly.
From my ten years of analyzing online content consumption, I've learned that if one category grows, the others don't necessarily shrink. Each stands on its own:
Text is less popular, but mostly in medium or long forms.
People still love their messaging apps.
For users, form follows function. If microblogging offers an enhanced messaging experience, that's the path to growth.
Mastodon, Bluesky, and similar platforms haven’t hit mainstream because they're seen as too nerdy or technical. Podcasting faced a similar challenge, taking 15 years to become mainstream, with Spotify making it as accessible as listening to music. The complexity of Apple Podcasts, starting with an empty app, turned many off.
Twitter also required work to curate a quality content bubble in one's timeline.
Threads' integration with Instagram was a smart move, leading to an instant experience of personalized content for each user.
Threads wins in every category (No Musk, sufficient funding, good user experience). My prediction: By April 2024, it will become the number one microblogging platform.
However, there's still much to be done to help users find a use case for this app. It might be the zeitgeist conversations Threads aims for, or something else entirely. The journey continues. 🚀
Unraveling the Yarns on Fediverse — a quick introduction
Since this term will be crucial in the social media landscape of 2024, let's do a quick introduction for all of you who haven't had the chance to engage with it.
The Fediverse, short for "federated universe," is a collection of interconnected servers used for web publishing and social networking. The uniqueness of the Fediverse lies in its decentralized and federated nature, which means that instead of a single website or platform owning the entire network, various independent servers (instances) run different software but can communicate with one another. This design offers a diverse range of platforms and services while maintaining the ability to interact across these different platforms.
Some key platforms in the Fediverse include:
Mastodon: A microblogging platform similar to Twitter. It's one of the most popular and widely recognized parts of the Fediverse, known for its community-driven and ad-free experience.
PeerTube: This is a video sharing platform akin to YouTube, where different servers host different videos and channels, but they can all interact with each other.
Pixelfed: A photo-sharing service similar to Instagram, it allows users to upload images and follow others within the Fediverse.
WriteFreely: A blogging platform that focuses on privacy and minimalism, offering a platform for writing and sharing longer-form content.
BookWyrm: A social reading platform that combines elements of a book tracking service with social media features.
FunkWhale: A service dedicated to music publishing and sharing.
What sets the Fediverse apart is its use of common protocols, particularly ActivityPub, which enable these varied platforms to interoperate. This means, for example, you could follow a PeerTube channel or a Pixelfed user from a Mastodon account. The content from these platforms shows up in your Mastodon feed, and interactions like likes and comments are shared back to the original platform.
The Fediverse presents an alternative model to conventional social media networks, characterized by its emphasis on decentralization, user privacy, and community governance. Rather than being controlled by a single entity, these federated networks are managed by various independent operators, which can lead to a more diverse and less commercially-driven online social environment.
Flipboard + Fediverse = The Social Content Revolution
"In our last issue, we explored a discussion between the CEOs of Flipboard and Mastodon, which took place shortly after Flipboard's announcement to federate. This strategic decision raises several questions: What does it mean for Flipboard, for the decentralized web, and for other content publishers?
To delve deeper, we turn to Ken Yeung, a journalist, digital marketer, and content curator with extensive experience in content strategy, journalism, and digital marketing within the technology and media sectors. Notably, he has a history with Flipboard.
Ken has written an insightful analysis in his blog, titled 'Flipboard’s ActivityPub Embrace Sparks Content Revolution in the Fediverse' So, what insights can we glean from his work? Here's the essence:
Background: Flipboard, known for its unique content curation on tablets, is evolving beyond its app-based roots. The platform has been a hub for organizing and discovering content through Magazines and Storyboards.
Flipboard's New Direction:
🔄 Integration with Mastodon, ActivityPub, and the Fediverse in 2023.
Goal: To break away from the centralized social content system, promoting open, interoperable social networking.
Significance: A move away from proprietary social platforms towards a more open, transparent, and decentralized model.
Flipboard's Big Idea:
🆕 Integration with various Fediverse apps like Threads, Pixelfed, Firefish, PeerTube, etc., starting December 18.
New feature: Content flipped into Magazines will now be shared on a @flipboard.com feed, enhancing content distribution across ActivityPub platforms.
Initial participation: Over two dozen publishers and creators, including The Verge, Semafor, and Smithsonian Magazine.
Organizing Content in the Fediverse:
Context: Increased interest in decentralization following changes in platforms like Twitter.
Flipboard's Unique Role: Unlike other aggregators, it doesn’t reduce site traffic for publishers but directs users to desired content.
Vision: To become a comprehensive directory for decentralized web content.
Moving Beyond App-Centric Curation:
Strategy: Utilizing ActivityPub to share interests and drive new users to the app.
Mitigating Risks: Enhancing moderation, respecting privacy settings, and maintaining content quality.
Federation Phases:
Phase 1 (Current): Testing with 25 publishers and creators.
Phase 2 (January 2024): Open engagement with public curators on Flipboard.
Phase 3 (April 2024): Full Flipboard integration with the Fediverse.
Tips for Publishers:
Set up specialized Magazines for diverse content themes.
Utilize @flipboard.com accounts for distributing content on ActivityPub platforms.
Consider creating a Fediverse instance for more targeted content delivery.
🌟 Conclusion: 2024 is a pivotal year for Flipboard's vision in the Fediverse, potentially revolutionizing content discovery and distribution.
Knitting guide: How to start Magazines on Flipboard
Ken Yeung's vision for content producers is both exciting and realistic. It also addresses a major current dilemma for media companies: whether to bundle or unbundle. In the digital age, many opt for bundling (as they learned it) but struggle with achieving high subscription rates. They are often faced with high churn rates and limited growth. This social content strategy advocates for unbundling - and on a large scale.
I’ve just set up a Stitch & Style Magazine on Flipboard and will be adding more content in the coming days. I'll also be sharing my own experiences. But first, let's explore how to get started. Here are seven key takeaways from Ken Yeung's insights:
🚀 Set Up a Flipboard Publisher Account: Use an RSS feed to feed diverse content into multiple Magazines.
📚 Create Multiple Magazines: Cater to various topics like business, tech, science, health, AI, sports, etc.
📣 Content Distribution: Flipped content is shared to ActivityPub platforms via @flipboard.com, featuring titles, URLs, and links back to the Magazine.
🌐 Avoid Overwhelming Social Channels: Content via @flipboard.com ensures main social channels remain uncluttered.
📰 Curate for Events and News: For significant events, create specific Magazines, sharing curated content on @flipboard.com for broader audience reach.
🔍 Selective Content Promotion: Not all flipped content triggers social posts - choose what to promote.
📈 Fediverse Instance for Large Publishers: Consider launching Fediverse instances for vertical-specific content, allowing followers to access tailored Flipboard content.
What’s new?
Starting today, it’s snowing on Threads. Style check: Making GeoCities Vibes cool again. Threads is also working on colorful text for New Year.
Meta's new Threads, a rival for X, is now Apple's most downloaded app
Threads, built on the back of Instagram and launched in July, may have staying power as downloads and usage grows. (BusinessInsider)
This app is the most deleted app of 2023 and it is not X/Twitter or Threads
Social media apps have become integral to our daily lives. However, apps continued to struggle to stay relevant in 2023. (Indian Times)
EU launch pushes Meta's Threads to top of Apple's most downloaded apps: Report
On December 20, six days after debuting in the EU, Threads became the most downloaded app on the App Store, and has been no.1 since then, the report said. (Hindustan Times)
Bluesky posts are finally visible if you’re not logged in
It’s a potentially big moment for Bluesky. (The Verge)
A New Look for Bluesky: The Social Butterfly (Official Bluesky Blog)
Threads EU launch puts social media space 'up for grabs'
As Meta debuts its alternative to X in the EU, CNN’s Anna Stewart looks at the future of social media. (CNN Business)
Coming up
I'd have liked to share the list of stories planned for the upcoming issues of Style & Stitches. However, in an effort to keep this newsletter concise and heeding the cautionary advice of our engagement department, we have something new.
I am proud to introduce the new Style & Stitches Digital Newsroom. Here, you can see all our upcoming ideas, vote for them, comment on them, and add your own topic suggestions, questions about Threads and the Fediverse, or submit feedback to improve this very newsletter. You can follow all ideas on the roadmap and in the changelog. I believe it's the most transparent and collaborative approach for a digital publication. I hope you enjoy it. Let's engage.
We Want to Hear from You!
What are your burning questions regarding Threads? Is there a specific topic or feature you'd like us to explore? Let us know in the comments, via our digital newsroom or feel free to hit the reply button.
Stitch on,
Daniel
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Crafting term of the day: Yarn. It is a versatile material commonly used in various crafts, including knitting, crocheting, weaving, and embroidery. It's made from fibers that are spun into a long, continuous length and can be composed of different materials:
From Europe with <3