As Elon Musk’s X sees a decline in every day energetic customers, some persons are deciding to ditch the social community completely, whether or not that’s for Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, or maybe, higher but, nothing in any respect.
For the reason that Tesla and SpaceX CEO purchased Twitter in 2022, quite a few options have cropped up, in search of to ensnare people who find themselves lower than glad 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 characteristic, rendering a logo as soon as related to legitimacy right into a meaningless insignia. For others, Musk’s political affect throughout 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 folks that they had blocked.
Perhaps that is all gravy, and also you’re simply attempting to chop down in your display time. Honest sufficient, and extra energy to you!
Regardless, in the event you’re attempting to make X your ex, learn on.
The right way to obtain your X archive
On X, you’ll be able to obtain an archive of assorted knowledge related along with your account, together with your posts, uploaded media, direct messages, and your followers and following lists. Whether or not you’re planning to delete your account or not, this type of knowledge may be helpful to have available.
The archive contains some knowledge that X could have collected about your account for advert concentrating on, similar to any pursuits or demographic identifiers that the app could have inferred about you. X and different social platforms be taught this data primarily based on what sorts of posts you work together with; in the event you observe dozens {of professional} sports activities accounts, for instance, then X will guess that you just’re a sports activities fan, and it’ll present you extra ads associated to sports activities.
Right here’s how you can obtain this archive out of 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 dropped at a display that claims Your Account. There, you’ll see an possibility that claims Obtain an archive of your knowledge.
- Subsequent, X could have you enter your password as a safety precaution. When you do this, it is possible for you to to request your knowledge.
It could take a couple of days for the app to retrieve and put together your knowledge, so don’t be alarmed in the event you don’t immediately obtain a .zip file. However in the event you’re planning to deactivate or delete your account, wait till you obtain the hyperlink to obtain your archive. X can’t 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 have the ability to see your posts or your account. Nonetheless, social networks haven’t any management over serps like Google, which robotically index public posts. Which means your posts may nonetheless flip up in search outcomes, even when the hyperlink to your put up now not exists.
If you wish to be further cautious, listed below are some steps you’ll be able to take to attenuate the prospect of your posts residing on:
In case your posts have by no means been public, then you definitely don’t have to fret about this. However even in the event you make a public account non-public for causes other than eventual deletion, it’s nonetheless doable that what you’ve posted earlier than defending your account can stay on in search outcomes; serps cache posts and will have a lag in updating useless hyperlinks.
The right way 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 offers you a grace interval of 30 days, throughout which you’ll change your thoughts and reactivate. When you deactivate your account, your profile will now not be seen on X.
Right here’s how you can deactivate your X account:
- In 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 dropped at a display that claims Your Account. On the backside of the record, you will notice an choice to Deactivate your account.
- When 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 pink button that claims Deactivate.
In fact, X doesn’t need you to delete your account, which is why it doesn’t soar you straight to the nuclear possibility. For those who notice 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.
When you deactivate, if 30 days cross with out you logging onto X, then your account will likely be completely deleted. Congratulations: You’re free. Now go exterior or one thing.
What social platform must you use as a substitute of X?
For those who can’t shake that insatiable need to put up, then you’ll be able to try another apps which may scratch that itch, but carry much less baggage. Listed here are some options to X which may fit your fancy:
Bluesky
Bluesky is a microblogging website constructed atop an open supply protocol. That’s loads of jargon, however on a floor degree, which means that the inside machinations of Bluesky are extra clear, and third-party builders can construct on prime of the app.
For individuals who don’t belief massive firms 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 usually do when utilizing an organization’s social product. Nonetheless, Bluesky isn’t utopian — it’s nonetheless a tech firm that has raised $23 million in enterprise capital and must maintain its buyers completely satisfied. However as a public profit company, Bluesky has some responsibility towards doing what’s greatest for the customers (not less than, it ought to), and never simply its funders.
As of January 2025, Bluesky has about 30 million registered customers. Earlier than Donald Trump was elected in November 2024, the social community had simply 13 million customers, however many X customers jumped ship on account of frustrations with Musk’s involvement within the Trump marketing campaign. Although Bluesky was fashioned as a venture 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 document, working since 2016. Whereas Bluesky’s structure largely stays beneath the hood — you don’t must know what a decentralized protocol is to make use of the app — Mastodon’s setup is a little more tech-forward. For some folks (like a lot of the cybersecurity neighborhood, which has settled on Mastodon), this can be a level in favor of Mastodon. However 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 a substitute of constructing folks work out which server to hitch 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 keeping with open supply knowledge. The community has greater than doubled since October 2022, when Elon Musk formally took over Twitter.
Threads
Threads has a severe benefit on this house: It’s owned by Meta, which implies which you can switch over your following lists from Instagram seamlessly. Of all choices, Threads makes it best to observe the folks you already wish to observe (although Bluesky and Mastodon have “Starter Packs” to assist, as does Threads).
However Threads’ greatest boon can be its deadly flaw. If persons are already bored with Meta’s ecosystem — which additionally contains Fb and WhatsApp — then they won’t soar on the likelihood to offer Meta much more management over their on-line experiences.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in December 2024 that Threads has over 100 million every day energetic customers and 300 million month-to-month energetic customers, making it far more widespread than its rivals. Although Threads had a giant head begin on account of its integration with Instagram, the app continues to develop.
