By Krystal Scanlon • November 14, 2024 •
Ivy Liu
The social media landscape is in full reshuffle mode following Donald Trump’s ascent as president-elect for a second term.
While no one can predict the final shape of this realignment, one thing is certain: it’s headed for an era of even deeper polarization and fragmentation among social media companies.
Just look at the numbers from the days around the election. Polarization surged, with the likes of Elon Musk’s X and Trump’s own Truth Social on one side, while the likes of Bluesky and Threads sit on the other.
Comparing user figures across iOS and android on Election Day compared to one month prior, according to data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb:
- X saw an average of 32.5 million users on Election Day, up from 31.2 million the month prior (Oct. 5)
- Truth Social saw 162,000 on Election Day, up from 110,000 on Oct. 5
- Bluesky saw 743.9K on Election Day up from 265.9K on Oct. 5
- Threads reached 4.3 million users, a small increase from 4.2 million on Oct. 5
Similarly, when looking at web traffic on Nov. 5, according to Similarweb:
- X saw 42.3 million visits, a 31% increase from Oct. 5
- Truth Social received 981.5K, a 361% increase
- Bluesky witnessed 828,000 , a 233% increase
- Threads received 981.5K, a 35% increase
Bluesky is reported to have gained an extra 700,000 new users in the last week since the election, most of which are from the U.S and the U.K. It brings the decentralized platform’s total user numbers to more than 14.5 million users, up from 9 million users in September.
And Meta’s Adam Mosseri posted that the platform had crossed the 275 million monthly active user mark on Threads two days before the election. That’s a 37.5% increase from the 200 monthly active users that was reported during the company’s second quarter earning’s call.
But as Jamie MacEwan, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis pointed out, new users in a flurry of election digital activism may not be users for life. “The real active users of these networks are still in the millions, as they are the fringes for whom politics is the number one concern,” he added.
Still, it’s no stretch to say that the flavor of political discourse on these platforms (or lack thereof) played a role in driving engagement over the last week or so. Social media’s power to craft tailored realities and tell users exactly what they want to hear remains potent. But unlike previous elections, where platforms wielded indomitable influence over the narrative, it’s fair to say the tables have turned. Now, it’s politics reshaping the platforms.
That’s especially true for Musk’s X. In the lead up to the election,