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Reputation Transfer in the Twitter Diaspora

Kristina Radivojevic, DJ Adams, Griffin Laszlo, Felixander Kery, Tim Weninger

TL;DR

This work examines how reputations transfer when users migrate from X/Twitter to Threads, Mastodon, and Truth Social using a large multi-platform dataset. It employs logistic regression to identify predictors of migration and ordinary least squares regression to assess reputation transfer across platforms. The key finding is that high-follower X/Twitter users are more likely to migrate, and their reputation transfers to Threads but not to Mastodon or Truth Social, highlighting platform-specific portability of online influence. The study provides insights for platform designers and policymakers on data portability, reputation management, and competitive dynamics, while noting limitations such as username-matching biases and reliance on follower counts. Overall, the results illuminate the selective portability of digital reputation across competing social ecosystems.

Abstract

Social media platforms have witnessed a dynamic landscape of user migration in recent years, fueled by changes in ownership, policy, and user preferences. This paper explores the phenomenon of user migration from established platforms like X/Twitter to emerging alternatives such as Threads, Mastodon, and Truth Social. Leveraging a large dataset from X/Twitter, we investigate the extent of user departure from X/Twitter and the destinations they migrate to. Additionally, we examine whether a user's reputation on one platform correlates with their reputation on another, shedding light on the transferability of digital reputation across social media ecosystems. Overall, we find that users with a large following on X/Twitter are more likely to migrate to another platform; and that their reputation on X/Twitter is highly correlated with reputations on Threads, but not Mastodon or Truth Social.

Reputation Transfer in the Twitter Diaspora

TL;DR

This work examines how reputations transfer when users migrate from X/Twitter to Threads, Mastodon, and Truth Social using a large multi-platform dataset. It employs logistic regression to identify predictors of migration and ordinary least squares regression to assess reputation transfer across platforms. The key finding is that high-follower X/Twitter users are more likely to migrate, and their reputation transfers to Threads but not to Mastodon or Truth Social, highlighting platform-specific portability of online influence. The study provides insights for platform designers and policymakers on data portability, reputation management, and competitive dynamics, while noting limitations such as username-matching biases and reliance on follower counts. Overall, the results illuminate the selective portability of digital reputation across competing social ecosystems.

Abstract

Social media platforms have witnessed a dynamic landscape of user migration in recent years, fueled by changes in ownership, policy, and user preferences. This paper explores the phenomenon of user migration from established platforms like X/Twitter to emerging alternatives such as Threads, Mastodon, and Truth Social. Leveraging a large dataset from X/Twitter, we investigate the extent of user departure from X/Twitter and the destinations they migrate to. Additionally, we examine whether a user's reputation on one platform correlates with their reputation on another, shedding light on the transferability of digital reputation across social media ecosystems. Overall, we find that users with a large following on X/Twitter are more likely to migrate to another platform; and that their reputation on X/Twitter is highly correlated with reputations on Threads, but not Mastodon or Truth Social.
Paper Structure (16 sections, 6 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 16 sections, 6 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Reputation and Influence
  4. Migrations, Deplatforming, and Its Effect on Reputation
  5. Collecting Migrations
  6. X/Twitter
  7. Threads
  8. Mastodon
  9. Truth Social
  10. Migration Analysis
  11. Methodology
  12. Migrants tend to keep their X/Twitter Accounts.
  13. Highly Reputed X/Twitter accounts are more likely to Migrate.
  14. Where did Users Migrate?
  15. Reputation Analysis
  16. ...and 1 more sections

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Example of a user migrating from X/Twitter to Threads. In the present work we find that users with large following are likely to migrate from X/Twitter to another platform. We also find that their reputations (in the number of followers) tends to transfer to Threads, but not to Mastodon or Truth Social.
  • Figure 2: Dataset, including sizes of intersecting username sets from the refined collection of (N=117,919) X/Twitter users.
  • Figure 3: Odds plot (with 95% confidence intervals) illustrating the probability that a user migrates to another platform for the number of followers, number of users following, and number of months spent on X/Twitter. Users are approximately 20% more likely to migrate to another platform for each additionally follower (p<0.001).
  • Figure 4: Odds plot (with 95% confidence intervals) indicating that the number of followers is a strong predictor of migration, especially towards Truth Social.
  • Figure 5: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression coefficient plots (and 95% confidence intervals, sometimes covered by the mean-point) showing a statistical correlation in reputation (i.e., number of followers) between X/Twitter and Threads, but not between X/Twitter and other platforms.
  • ...and 1 more figures