Five-and-a-half months after Elon Musk took charge of Twitter, the criticisms aren’t calming down. If anything, they’re growing louder.

Between Elon Musk declaring NPR to be “government funded” media, the company’s back and forth blocking of Substack, and reports that Twitter is no longer limiting the reach of Chinese or Russian state-controlled media outlets, the number of people who are considering abandoning the social media channel is threatening to bubble once again.

The question is: Where will those people go? Early Twitter rivals like Mastodon and Hive Social failed to take the world by storm. But a new batch of short-post social media channels is arriving, with some coming from familiar names.

Here’s a look at the companies that have launched Twitter alternatives—as well as some on the horizon.

SUBSTACK

Just days after Twitter marked Substack links as “unsafe,” the Substack platform rolled out Notes, its new feature for shorter posts that brings the Twitter feed to mind. Users can share links, images, thoughts, and portions of Substack posts. The company acknowledges that Notes is an early version of the product and expects to have plenty of bugs and imperfections.

The site has two tabs—home and subscribed. Home will show notes from both writers you’re subscribed to and Substack recommendations. Subscribed will only show the accounts you follow. The look and feel are very Twitter-esque, but if you want to follow someone’s notes, you apparently have to follow their newsletter as well, which some early testers have found off-putting. For Substack power users, however, or anyone who has a lot of followers on the platform, that could raise their profile even further.

“Notes is a long-term project, and success will ultimately be determined by the trust expressed by writers and readers over the course of years,” Substack wrote in a blog post. “We do not take that trust for granted.”

Why it’s worth trying: Substack has a strong community of writers, which could expose you to new ideas in a nonpartisan environment.

MASTODON

Mastodon wasn’t a newcomer when the social media spotlight turned its way. Launched in 2016, it had a loyal user base. And it saw its active user count soar from 300,000 to 2.5 million in a month. Although that excitement has faded, it’s still a popular Twitter alternative. A February report from 42matters, a mobile and connected TV intelligence company, finds that downloads of Mastodon are down 99% from their mid-November peak. Still, the report was favorable to the app overall, writing “While Mastodon hasn’t achieved the critical mass necessary to establish itself as a legitimate threat to Twitter, it’s nevertheless one of the platform’s strongest new competitors.”

The decentralized design makes for a more democratic platform, but its user interface isn’t as easy to understand as Twitter’s. Rather than all users being in a single feed, you’ll need to select a server to join. You can move around—and still follow and interact with people on other servers. (Here’s a handy guide on how to get started.)

Why it’s worth trying: If you’re looking for a community, there’s likely one here that’s tailored to your interests, especially for underrepresented groups.

POST NEWS

When it was just three weeks old, this social media site secured an undisclosed amount of capital from A16Z (which has also given $400 million to Musk for his Twitter buyout) and professor/podcaster Scott Galloway.

It has positioned itself as a haven from hate speech, though you’ll still find plenty of differing opinions. Users aren’t limited by a character count and can purchase individual articles from news outlets, meaning you can bypass subscription walls, but media sites can still monetize their content.

Why it’s worth trying: Post offers users access to a wide range of news and information sources without having to worry about long-term subscriptions, and many news outlets and journalists have joined the platform. It’s social media for news junkies.

T2

This seed-funded rival (which is expected to change its name at some point) is using the confusion and controversy surrounding verified blue checkmarks on Twitter as a stepping stone to build its brand. The company has launched a verification process called “Get the Checkmark,” which allows legacy verified Twitter users to claim a T2 checkmark by filling out this form. It also recently hired Discord’s former senior director of engineering, Michael Greer, as its chief technical officer.

While it’s still in closed beta testing, T2, which was developed by former employees of Google and Twitter, has already received $1.1 million in seed funding, has a focus on moderation, with both AI and humans reviewing posts. The site currently is a stripped down version of Twitter, supporting short posts, replies, photos and a follower/following design.

Why it’s worth trying: There are a number of verified users here (including Fast Company), so you won’t have to wonder if the account you’re following is authentic or a troll.

COHOST

Still in the beta phase, Cohost is signing up new testers now—and so far, it doesn’t have a lot of traction or power users. The site has many of the same features as Twitter, including followers, reposts, likes, and comments, but opts against using an algorithm. Instead, posts are displayed chronologically. It doesn’t feature ads and says it doesn’t track user data. There’s a $5 per month subscription tier (to “keep the lights on”), though users still have a free option. Soon, say the founders, users will be allowed to take tips and sell their own subscriptions.

“On modern social media, there is an ever-present fear that someone will see your post, have their own bad faith interpretation, and decide to ruin your day over it,” the founders wrote on Cohost’s website. “Platforms are often built to encourage this sort of behavior to drive up engagement, but they don’t have to be.”

Why it’s worth trying: Cohost is new enough that early adopters could help shape it into becoming the social media site they’ve been hoping for.

HIVE

Hive saw its user count soar to slightly over one million in the wake of Musk’s takeover, but that proved to be problematic. When Donald Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated, the rush of Hive signups crashed the app. Then, the company shut down its servers completely, saying it would be offline for “a couple of days” as it worked to fix security issues that would have allowed hackers to access all of a user’s data (including private messages and deleted direct messages) and edit people’s posts.

That cost it a lot of user trust. And the two-week offline period might have resulted in a more secure, better optimized platform, but users were still wary.

Users who did return to Hive, though, can create polls, share videos, and personalize their experience.

Why it’s worth trying: Hive offers a number of features and did a major security refresh after its problems. Still, it’s a leap of faith.

OTHER TWITTER ALTERNATIVES COMING SOON

Still not finding a perfect replacement for what you love about Twitter? There are plenty of other companies on the case:

META’S P92

Mark Zuckerberg and company haven’t talked much about their plans, but several media outlets including CNBC and Platformer report that Meta is working on a stand-alone project codenamed P92, which would be a text-based social media app. Users will reportedly be able to log in with their Instagram accounts, so they wouldn’t need to create yet another social media identity. Instagram head Adam Mosseri is overseeing the project.

“We’re exploring a stand-alone decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC. “We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.”

No timeline for the project’s rollout has been provided.

SPILL

Remember when Twitter was about fun, rather than name-calling and ideological attacks? Spill is hoping to bring that back. The makers of the as-yet unlaunched social media site (who are former Twitter employees) say they’re built Spill “to make it easier, safer, and more rewarding to get to that experience, as well as introducing new ways to connect through real time conversation.”

Beyond posting your thoughts (a “Spill” vs. a “Tweet”), users will also be able to host in-app chats and will be paid if their spill goes viral. The site, which has raised $2.75 million in pre-seed funding already, plans to use AI to improve content moderation and user support. The app is expected to rollout in closed beta in the second quarter of 2023.

The site’s founders are Black—and say Spill will be a platform that welcomes a wide variety of viewpoints. “While Spill is for everyone, we are catering to culture drivers who frequently set new trends yet routinely get overlooked and under compensated,” CEO and cofounder Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell wrote on Twitter.”Yes, we mean Black creators, Queer creators, and a variety of influential voices outside the U.S.”

BLUESKY

Bluesky, a decentralized social network that’s headed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is something of a mystery. It got its start back in 2021, soon after Twitter had banned Donald Trump. The idea is to create a network that doesn’t have a central governance and, in some ways, is more like email.

“We’re not describing what we’re building as a federated or p2p network, or as a blockchain network, because it doesn’t fall neatly in any of these categories,” the group explained in an April 6, 2022 post. “It could be described as a hybrid federated network with p2p characteristics … Our team has previously built leading decentralized web protocols and blockchain networks, and is working on synthesizing the best of what we’ve seen into something new.”

More recently, developers have said a private beta should launch in “a few months” and have opened a waitlist for people who want to see what they’ve been working on.