First and foremost: none of this is new. You know how we all hate Facebook? Or how everyone fled Digg for Reddit? Or even how it seems like every 6-8 months Twitch/Youtube becomes the worst place to stream and Youtube/Twitch is where it is at.
And a lot of that is about shifting the overton window. Everyone lost their god damned minds yesterday over twitter being rate limited (except the people who just love them the taste of some apartheid winky). But you can bet your bottom dollar that Bluesky and Thread are going to have “much more favorable” subscriptions for “power users”. And it will look amazing compared to twitter.
As for why we are seeing a burst right now? Part of it is very much twitter. Hairplugs bought it, fired off most of the staff, platformed insane amounts of transphobia and hate, and many feeds are just outright bestiality and CSAM. And the vast majority of users still insist “it isn’t that bad” and “there are no alternatives”.
Which tells social media/tech companies: They can do whatever the hell they want and users will stick around. So let’s do that.
And I’ll also add on that the Silicon Valley Bank debacle at the start of the year as well as the ongoing threat of a recession are a good indicator that it might be smart to do an IPO/sell sooner than later. Which means you need at least temporary profitability. Because the days of infinite venture capital are likely gone for a while.