Instagram Threads missed its moment to really challenge X, this weekend’s OpenAI scandal shows. Over the past few days, as news spread about the board’s decision to remove Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, and the effects of this wild and unexpected change rippled through Silicon Valley’s tech ecosystem, the conversation wasn’t largely on Threads, but on X Reporters were updating on X, sharing the latest on the boardroom drama, the threatened employee exodus, the move to perhaps bring Altman back, and then Microsoft’s announcement Monday morning that Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman had joined the company to lead a new AI Team.
Experts, tech executives and others affected by the OpenAI drama, including key players like Altman and Brockman, also used X’s platform to share their statements and telegraph their feelings about the changes. From Altman, these ranged from declarations of his love for the OpenAI team to a selfie of himself holding an OpenAI guest ID, commenting, “First and last time I wear one of these” — a nod to the fact that the technology world tuned into his account for the latest updates.
On X, OpenAI employees also reposted Altman’s post where he said “I love the openai team so much,” adding their own heart emoji — a message allegedly intended to signal the board who has been loyal to Altman and may leave OpenAI to follow him on his next venture. In a turn of events, one of those hearts it came from then CEO Mira Murati.
Veteran journalist Kara Swisher, co-host of the Pivot podcast, also began reporting on the turmoil directly on X. He noted that Microsoft — whose stock was “killed on the news” of the removal — only found out minutes before OpenAI’s press release came out. She later bailer the rationale behind the launch, making it a poor alignment between the for-profit arm and the non-profit nature of OpenAI as a company, with the recent Developer Day bringing those tensions to a head.
Although Swisher posted some of her updates on Threads, one of her X measuring cups saw 5.5 million views and 6,000 likes. In Threads, she maximum posts attracted thousands in the single digits in terms of links. (Threads do not display view counts.)
In addition to breaking news from various publications, the main characters — such as Altman, Brockman, Murati and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, among others — also used X’s platform to share their thoughts, feelings and various statements about the situation.
Among the highlights was Altman’s “I love you all” X post, which was favorited 91,000 times. theories that Altman was sending a cryptic message about Ilya’s involvement (I love you all initials ILYA, observed Bloomberg’s Emily Chang). Brockman’s post shares his message to the OpenAI team after “learning today’s news” which suggests that he too had been blinded. his later expression of shock and disbelief. and Murati now foreboding post that “OpenAI is nothing without its people.”
Rumors about alternate board candidates such as Marissa Mayer and Brian Chesky also began publishing on X in support of Altman and Brockman. Mayer she even stated herself an “AI optimist” and suggested that the board should not simply step down, but that OpenAI’s governance itself had “structural flaws” that needed to be addressed.
Later Sutzkever went to X to express his regret for his role in leading the board revolt against Altman. “I never intended to harm OpenAI,” he wrote, after much damage had already been done.
Former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, the current interim CEO of OpenAI, also announced his new role in Xalthough who knows how long he will hold the position at this point.
This quick news opportunity could have happened anywhere—X now has plenty of rivals, from decentralized contenders like Mastodon and Bluesky, to startups like Spill and Post, to Big Tech-owned Instagram subjects. But much of the OpenAI drama took place in X.
Despite recent X advertiser exits due to brand safety concerns and reports of declining usage, X continues to prove more ‘sticky’ than first thought. Recent market information suggests that X is declining in daily active users isn’t necessarily from reduced retention or longtime Twitter users leaving the platform, but from X’s inability to make up for losses with new users after rebranding as X, causing it to lose store search rankings applications.
At the same time, Meta has positioned Threads as an alternative that doesn’t focus on X’s news. In October, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri even specifically stated that the company’s rival X would not “boost” news on its platform in a attempt to avoid risk, given the relative immaturity of its platform. It has also excluded some search terms related to news, like covid, showing government resources.
As a result of this position, Threads missed its moment to become a place where the biggest news is announced (at least in tech), ceding that ground from where it has always broken in the past: Twitter/X.
However, all the OpenAI talk and drama didn’t actually help X improve its metrics. There’s no indication that those who weren’t already using the app went to download it to read about the OpenAI drama, the market intelligence provider notes data.ai. In fact, the company said, X’s overall ranking on iOS has slipped further since earlier this month.
Another company, Apptopia, also agreed with this finding, adding that this particular company’s developments are of great interest to techies, but not to the typical US population. As a result, it noted only a “very small increase” in daily active users over the weekend, but noted that it was smaller than the ebbs and flows that have occurred over the past 90 days.
Image Credits: data.ai
