As Elon Musk’s X sees a decline in every day energetic customers, some individuals are deciding to ditch the social community solely, whether or not that’s for Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, or maybe, higher but, nothing in any respect.
Since the Tesla and SpaceX CEO purchased Twitter in 2022, quite a few alternate options have cropped up, in search of to ensnare people who find themselves lower than happy with Musk’s administration of the platform. In some instances, that time of no return got here when X turned its iconic blue checkmark right into a paid function, rendering a logo as soon as related to legitimacy right into a meaningless insignia. For others, Musk’s political affect inside the Trump administration was the ultimate straw; or perhaps that second got here even sooner, when Musk reinstated the accounts of recognized white supremacists, or when X made customers’ public posts seen to individuals that they had blocked.
Maybe that is all gravy, and also you’re simply attempting to chop down in your display screen time. Fair sufficient, and extra energy to you!
Regardless, for those who’re attempting to make X your ex, learn on.
How to obtain your X archive
On X, you may obtain an archive of varied knowledge related together with your account, together with your posts, uploaded media, direct messages, and your followers and following lists. Whether you’re planning to delete your account or not, this type of knowledge could be helpful to have available.
The archive consists of some knowledge that X might have collected about your account for advert concentrating on, corresponding to any pursuits or demographic identifiers that the app might have inferred about you. X and different social platforms study this info primarily based on what sorts of posts you work together with; for those who comply with dozens {of professional} sports activities accounts, for instance, then X will guess that you simply’re a sports activities fan, and it’ll present you extra ads associated to sports activities.
Here’s methods to obtain this archive out of your desktop browser:
- Click the three dot image on the underside of the left-hand navigation bar.
- Navigate to Settings and privateness.
- From there, you’ll be delivered to a display screen that claims Your Account. There, you’ll see an possibility that claims Download an archive of your knowledge.
- Next, X can have you enter your password as a safety precaution. Once you try this, it is possible for you to to request your knowledge.
It might take a number of days for the app to retrieve and put together your knowledge, so don’t be alarmed for those who don’t immediately obtain a .zip file. But for those who’re planning to deactivate or delete your account, wait till you obtain the hyperlink to obtain your archive. X can not ship this knowledge to an inactive account.
What else ought to I do earlier than deleting my X account?
Deleting your X account implies that nobody on the location will be capable of see your posts or your account. However, social networks haven’t any management over search engines like google and yahoo like Google, which routinely index public posts. This implies that your posts would possibly nonetheless flip up in search outcomes, even when the hyperlink to your submit now not exists.
If you need to be further cautious, listed here are some steps you may take to attenuate the possibility of your posts residing on:
If your posts have by no means been public, then you definitely don’t have to fret about this. But even for those who make a public account non-public for causes other than eventual deletion, it’s nonetheless potential that what you’ve posted earlier than defending your account can stay on in search outcomes; search engines like google and yahoo cache posts and will have a lag in updating useless hyperlinks.
How to delete your X account
Alas, it’s time to log out. If deleting your account feels a bit too everlasting and intimidating, the choice provides you a grace interval of 30 days, throughout which you’ll be able to change your thoughts and reactivate. Once you deactivate your account, your profile will now not be seen on X.
Here’s methods to deactivate your X account:
- On your desktop browser, click on the three dot image on the underside of the left-hand navigation bar.
- Navigate to Settings and privateness.
- From there, you’ll be delivered to a display screen that claims Your Account. At the underside of the record, you will notice an choice to Deactivate your account.
- Once you click on that, you’ll be introduced to a different web page, which makes certain you actually know what you’re doing.
- Then, click on the purple button that claims Deactivate.
Of course, X doesn’t need you to delete your account, which is why it doesn’t soar you straight to the nuclear possibility. If you understand that breaking apart with X is a horrible mistake, X will nonetheless take you again, as long as that 30-day window hasn’t elapsed.
Once you deactivate, if 30 days go with out you logging onto X, then your account might be completely deleted. Congratulations: You are free. Now go outdoors or one thing.
What social platform do you have to use as an alternative of X?
If you may’t shake that insatiable need to submit, then you may take a look at another apps which may scratch that itch, but carry much less baggage. Here are some alternate options to X which may fit your fancy:
Bluesky
Bluesky is a microblogging web site constructed atop an open supply protocol. That’s loads of jargon, however on a floor degree, because of this the interior machinations of Bluesky are extra clear, and third-party builders can construct on prime of the app.
For individuals who don’t belief giant companies like Meta and Google to carry the keys to their on-line social lives, the open supply nature of Bluesky may very well be interesting, since customers have extra management than they sometimes do when utilizing an organization’s social product. However, Bluesky isn’t utopian — it’s nonetheless a tech firm that has raised $23 million in enterprise capital and must preserve its buyers glad. But as a public profit company, Bluesky has some obligation towards doing what’s greatest for the customers (at the very least, it ought to), and never simply its funders.
As of January 2025, Bluesky has about 30 million registered customers. Before Donald Trump was elected in November 2024, the social community had simply 13 million customers, however many X customers jumped ship attributable to frustrations with Musk’s involvement within the Trump marketing campaign. Though Bluesky was shaped as a mission at Twitter beneath former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, the corporate now not has ties to X, and Dorsey is now not a member of its board.
Mastodon
Like Bluesky, Mastodon can be an open supply social community, and one with an extended observe file, working since 2016. While Bluesky’s structure largely stays beneath the hood — you don’t have to know what a decentralized protocol is to make use of the app — Mastodon’s setup is a little more tech-forward. For some individuals (like a lot of the cybersecurity neighborhood, which has settled on Mastodon), it is a level in favor of Mastodon. But for the much less tech-savvy, Mastodon could also be complicated. The nonprofit has taken steps to streamline the signup course of, defaulting customers to the “mastodon.social” server as an alternative of creating individuals determine which server to affix earlier than even utilizing the platform.
As of January 2025, Mastodon has round 10 million registered customers, with nearer to 1 million energetic customers, in line with open supply knowledge. The community has greater than doubled since October 2022, when Elon Musk formally took over Twitter.
Threads
Threads has a critical benefit on this area: It’s owned by Meta, which suggests which you can switch over your following lists from Instagram seamlessly. Of all choices, Threads makes it best to comply with the individuals you already need to comply with (although Bluesky and Mastodon have “Starter Packs” to assist, as does Threads).
But Threads’ greatest boon can be its deadly flaw. If individuals are already bored with Meta’s ecosystem — which additionally consists of Facebook and WhatsApp — then they won’t soar on the probability to provide Meta much more management over their on-line experiences.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in December 2024 that Threads has over 100 million every day energetic customers and 300 million month-to-month energetic customers, making it rather more common than its rivals. Though Threads had a giant head begin attributable to its integration with Instagram, the app continues to develop.
