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Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

Influencer marketing is evolving, and so is the way brands measure success. That’s why Meltwater is proud to announce a new partnership with YouTube, integrating YouTube’s Creator Partnerships API directly into our Influencer Marketing platform.

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Sales intelligence tools can be a game changer for businesses. These tools provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, allowing companies to tailor their sales strategies to meet their target audience wherever they are. With the right data at their fingertips, businesses can better understand who their customers are and what they need. In turn, you’ll look like a superhero as you increase sales and customer satisfaction.

One of the key benefits of using sales intelligence tools is the ability to track customer interactions across multiple channels. You can gain a comprehensive view of each customer's journey, from the initial contact to the purchase and beyond. This data can help you identify patterns and trends to guide your decision-making and better engage your customers in the future. 

To get started with sales intelligence, you’ll need the right sales intelligence tool that gives you a complete picture of your customers.

Let’s explore the top sales intelligence tools on the market so you can get your revenue flowing faster:

Reading tip: Learn how to use chatbots to improve your sales and take a look at the best sales software on the market.

Meltwater is an end-to-end, AI-powered platform that empowers sales and marketing with comprehensive customer journey insights. Also known for our social media listening and media monitoring, our sales intelligence solution collects competitive data that will help you personalize your sales outreach.

Its data-driven features empower your sales strategy in several ways:

Identify trends or market shifts in real time

Learn about potential new competitors in the market

Meltwater sales intelligence offers intel into

The more you know about your competitors and their sales processes, the better you can reverse-engineer what they’re doing and tailor your own processes.

Our platform does an exceptional job of collecting and aggregating this data on your behalf. You can customize your dashboards to see the analytics that are most important to you. With a single source of truth, BDRs can improve how they prospect, cross-sell, and onboard customers without spending hours on competitive analysis.

Get your free tour of our platform today!

ZoomInfo takes a multi-pronged approach to business intelligence. Its platform covers sales prospecting, ABM and conversions, employee recruiting, and operations.

Focusing solely on the sales side, users can build databases of B2B businesses based on their Ideal Customer Profiles. Its large database of contact information (including phone numbers and email addresses) gives users direct access to decision-makers, helping to shorten the sales cycle.

This sales intelligence software also captures things like phone calls, conversations, and emails. The software can analyze all of the above to help sales teams create more impact with their outreach and build on their past successes. 

Prospecting is hard. Salespeople spend a significant amount of time just trying to find leads to connect with. And when they find them, it takes an average of eight attempts to reach a prospect by phone.

Cognism gives back some of this time. As a database of B2B phone numbers and emails, this sales intelligence tool makes prospecting more efficient and effective.

At its core, Cognism is designed to provide sales teams with access to up-to-date information about potential customers, particularly those who are ready to make buying decisions. Sales teams can have more conversations and spend less time searching for contact information.

It also satisfies GDPR compliance requirements by not contacting people who are on the Do Not Call list. 

With Uniqode's digital business card solution, you can easily switch from paper to digital in a few clicks. The whole solution is focused on simplifying the creation and sharing of your digital business identity – no extra app is required for a hassle-free experience.

The two-way contact-sharing feature is a unique feature, effortlessly capturing leads when sharing your card with prospects. You can also keep your cards accessible in Google or Apple Wallet pass, ensuring they're always within reach. Admins can centrally manage organization-wide cards without needing an extra app.

The solution redefines sales intelligence with a user-friendly, no-frills solution. Perfect for modern businesses, it enhances networking and streamlines lead generation effortlessly. 

LeadSquared is a sales and marketing automation CRM that helps businesses gain insights into customer's preferences, buying patterns, and sales trends. It also automates manual tasks and helps sales reps prioritize leads and deals based on their previous interactions. It's an essential tool for businesses that run high-velocity sales, require field sales management, and improve pipeline flow. 

LeadSquared allows sales team to monitor lead movement in real-time and track every interaction. The tool can be customized to cater to specific business challenges across various industries. It can also be integrated with all your lead generation sources and other third-party tools to centralize all customer information. 

Capitalizing on companies who are already looking at your products and web pages is what Leadfeeder does best.

As one of the best sales intelligence tools for lead generation, Leadfeeder uses website traffic data to generate new prospects. It reveals whose behind your traffic so you can follow up with real people who have shown interest in your product, service, or company.

This sales intelligence platform includes lead scoring and segmentation so you can allocate your time. Segment leads based on their potential to convert. The tool will also automatically score leads based on their web actions. You can sync this data with your CRM to gain a comprehensive view of your sales pipeline.

The platform offers a free trial for 14 days so you can see how it might fit into your sales process. 

UpLead is a sales intelligence software that provides businesses with access to high-quality B2B contact and account data to help them generate leads.

One of the key features of UpLead is its database of millions of B2B contacts. This database is constantly updated to ensure businesses have access to the most current and relevant data. Using UpLead's 50+ search filters, businesses can easily find and target good-fit prospects based on industry, location, company size, and job title.

Other notable features include real-time email verification, mobile phone numbers, intent data, and data enrichment that you can export directly to your CRM. 

Clearbit sales intelligence software focuses on timely engagement. The platform helps users create an ideal customer profile using more than 100 firmographic and technographic data points. This in-depth level of detail can lead to better targeting and more precisely tailored campaigns.

It enriches your website data to help you turn anonymous traffic into real conversations. Identify who is visiting your website and know how to contact them, all in real-time and all based on intentional outreach.

Clearbit also helps you score leads so you can decide where to focus your efforts. This helps you speed up the time to close and reach your sales targets faster.

In total, this sales intelligence solution offers a comprehensive database solution that simplifies the prospecting process and helps you approach each lead in the right way.

Launched as a Google Chrome browser extension, Datanyze makes it easy to find contact information without switching to new tools or tabs. It displays mobile numbers, direct dial numbers, and email addresses when viewing LinkedIn profiles or company websites.

In addition to contact data, Datanyze’s market reports provide a wealth of information on leading industry-specific companies and categories. Learn who’s leading conversations and sales so you can find your next best-fit clients.

Among the most recognized names in sales intelligence platforms, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is designed to help sales professionals and businesses identify, target, and engage with potential customers on LinkedIn. 

One of the key features of LinkedIn Sales Navigator is its lead search functionality. This allows users to search for potential customers using a wide range of criteria, including job title, company size, industry, location, and more. The platform will also recommend leads and prospects based on your previous activity. Deploy leads to your CRM with a single click and easily integrate them with your current sales processes. 

Using LinkedIn data, Sales Navigator will update you if a lead changes jobs or companies so you can tailor your follow-up accordingly. These real-time insights come in handy when staying connected to decision makers.

Another notable feature is the ability to send InMail to more than 500 million contacts, even if you’re not connected with them. Users can send up to 50 InMail messages monthly to drum up leads and make new introductions.

Vainu leverages automation to reduce the time-consuming process of integrating leads with your CRM pipeline.

Let Vainu help you find your ideal client, then access complete company profiles to learn more about them. This allows you to have more informed conversations once you connect with a prospect. 

Speaking of which, Vainu also provides guidance on which accounts to connect with at any given time.

With automated triggers, you can trust data to trigger sales conversations at the right time. For example, if someone fills out your contact form or downloads a gated asset, you can gain a complete picture of that company even if they don’t fit your target customer profile.

Part business contact database and part buying signal database, DiscoverOrg provides actionable B2B sales intelligence. Tailored for go-to-market intel, the platform helps sales reps pinpoint better leads with real-time buying signals. 

Once you define your ideal profiles, the platform’s data can connect you to the right person to speak to. From there, you can identify, score, and track new leads for more effective follow-up.

With features for account-based marketing, this platform is ideal for creating alignment between sales and marketing teams.

Take an Informed Approach to Sales with Meltwater Sales Intelligence

Sales intelligence platforms are designed to help you sell smarter. With prospecting and research taking up valuable selling time, Meltwater is helping you to reclaim your time so you can consistently hit your targets.

Our sales intelligence solution offers a comprehensive, accurate contact database, advanced competitive intelligence, and real-time business alerts, and many other features to help your business smash its sales goals.

12 Best Sales Intelligence Software Tools 2025

Note: This blog is based on the Global Digital Report 2024 – produced in partnership with Meltwater and We Are Social. See Simon Kemp's article about The Changing World of Digital in 2024. Download the Global Digital Report 2024 and the Global Digital Report 2023 for free.

The social media landscape in Southeast Asia is among the most dynamic in the world, where being online is deeply embedded into daily life. For businesses, understanding social media trends in Southeast Asia is key to crafting effective campaigns. Success lies not just in knowing where audiences are active but also in understanding why they engage—whether to connect, discover products, or make purchases—as Southeast Asia’s unique cultural dynamics shape online behavior.

Southeast Asia's rapid internet and mobile usage growth sets it apart as a young and digitally savvy social media market. Globally, people spend an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes daily on the internet via their mobile phones. Comparatively, social media users in Southeast Asia far exceed this average, with countries like the Philippines (5 hours and 30 minutes), Thailand (4 hours and 56 minutes), Malaysia (4 hours and 39 minutes), and Indonesia (4 hours and 32 minutes) leading the pack. Ultimately, mobile devices are an extension of Southeast Asian social media users' fingertips.

Key platforms driving social media trends in Southeast Asia

Emerging social media trends in Southeast Asia

How businesses can adapt to social media trends in Southeast Asia

How Meltwater keeps brands ahead of social media

Facebook and Instagram remain dominant in Southeast Asia's social media landscape, while TikTok steadily rises to complete the trio of the most popular platforms in the region. With 64.3% of Southeast Asians actively using social media, these platforms are integral in creating digital engagement in Southeast Asia.

Facebook leads the pack due to its vast user base and engagement. Facebook ads reach 17.2% of all Southeast Asians, with staggering engagement among users aged 18+. The Philippines leads with a remarkable 113% reach, followed by Vietnam (101%), Malaysia (85.8%), Thailand (84.3%), and Singapore (72.2%). This trend reflects Facebook’s staying power and the common practice of managing multiple accounts for personal, business, or niche interests. Vietnam stands out further, with users averaging 24 hours and 11 minutes on Facebook each month, showcasing their reliance on the social media platform.

Instagram also continues to be popular in the social media scene. Ads on Instagram reach 59.2% of adults in Singapore, 55% in Malaysia, 46.4% in Indonesia, and 30.3% in Thailand—exceeding the global average of 28.1%. While Instagram traditionally finds more significant success in developed Western nations, Singapore’s highly developed digital economy explains its dominance here. 

Meanwhile, TikTok continues to thrive with its engaging short-form content. Indonesia (40 minutes, 34 seconds), the Philippines (40 minutes, 3 seconds), Malaysia (39 minutes, 43 seconds), and Thailand (35 minutes, 29 seconds) rank among the top globally in monthly TikTok usage. The shift toward video-centric platforms marks a significant social media trend in Southeast Asia; TikTok’s endless short-form content conveyor belt continues to be a massive hit among audiences across the region. 

The social media users in Southeast Asia go beyond scrolling, using platforms for communication, sharing, and connecting with loved ones. It’s a space to discuss local news, share funny videos, and stay in touch. Messaging apps like WhatsApp are vital, especially in Indonesia, which logs 1,374.3 monthly WhatsApp sessions—well above the global average of 930 and the second highest worldwide.

Filipinos spend an average of 3 hours and 33 minutes daily on social media, followed by Indonesia (3:08), Malaysia (2:47), and Thailand (2:29), all well above the global average of 2:19. Beyond connecting with loved ones, social media is reshaping shopping, fueling a social commerce boom. It’s a powerful tool for discovering, engaging, and reaching untapped markets, giving brands valuable moments to make an impression each minute a user is online.

The numbers back it up: Southeast Asian social media users are setting the global standard for online shopping. Thailand tops the world in weekly online purchases, with 66.6% of internet users shopping online, followed closely by the Philippines (59.7%), Malaysia (59.6%), Vietnam (59%), and Indonesia (56%). These figures demonstrate social commerce's importance, offering convenience for essential purchases and inspiring impulse buys through well-timed ads. Social media is no longer just a space for connection—it’s a marketplace anyone can access anytime.

Beyond facilitating transactions, social media in Southeast Asia plays a crucial role in product research and brand discovery. Vietnam leads this trend, with 83% of users conducting research via social platforms, followed by Indonesia (82.1%), the Philippines (79.4%), and Malaysia (73.9%). Social commerce is the new form of window shopping for consumers — if your marketing campaigns are eye-catching and compelling, you’re likely to convert browsers into buyers.

As Southeast Asians increasingly turn to social media for brand discovery and research, businesses must tailor their social commerce strategies with features like in-app shopping, free delivery, vouchers, and discounts to drive engagement and build trust in seamless, convenient shopping.

Localization such as creating segmented ads, researching strategic influencer partnerships, understanding your audience's preferences, and aligning with cultural distinctions can make all the difference in Southeast Asia's saturated markets. The Philippines leads globally in influencer engagement, with 44.6% of adults following influencers on social media. Indonesia (31.1%), Malaysia (28.7%), and Thailand (24.1%) also demonstrate strong tendencies to follow opinion leaders, making influencer marketing a powerful driver of sales. Collaborating with influencers who make sense for your brand allows businesses to create authentic campaigns that build personal and relatable connections.

With the preference for mobile shopping in Southeast Asia, brands must optimize for mobile-first experiences with visually appealing ads, easy navigation, and seamless checkout. Ultimately, prioritizing convenience and authenticity is key to capturing and retaining Southeast Asia’s engaged online audiences.

Succeeding in Southeast Asia’s ever-evolving social media landscape requires more than intuition—it requires data-driven strategies and real-time insights. Meltwater equips brands with the tools to stay ahead by tapping into the latest social media conversations and trends across Southeast Asia.

With Meltwater’s comprehensive social listening capabilities, businesses can monitor discussions on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, analysing key trends, consumer sentiment, and competitor activities to refine their social commerce strategies. Meltwater helps businesses connect authentically with Southeast Asia’s social media users by identifying influencers, optimizing mobile content, and leveraging localized insights to craft impactful campaigns.

Tip: Learn how to find social media trends yourself.

Would you like to be able to compile data like we've used for these social media statistics for Southeast Asia yourself? Simply fill out the form below for a free tour of our Meltwater Social Media Monitoring Suite:

Social Media Trends and Habits in Southeast Asia

Bluesky has been getting a lot of media attention recently, so it’s no surprise that people are wondering how it compares to Twitter/X. The two micro-blogging platforms share a lot of similarities, but also differ in some important ways, and in this blog we’ll explain exactly how they stack up against each other. 

Twitter, Bluesky, and their Shared History

If Bluesky and Twitter seem to have a lot in common, it’s because Bluesky started life as an internal project at Twitter in 2019. The idea behind the project was to create a social media service like Twitter/X that could be open source and decentralized, rather than being owned and managed by a single corporate entity. 

The result of this experiment was the AT Protocol, a kind of standard framework that can be used by anybody to build decentralized and interoperable social media platforms. Bluesky was built by Twitter/X as an initial proof-of-concept to show how the AT Protocol could work, and eventually in 2021 it was spun out into an independent company called Bluesky Social PBC (Public Benefit Company). 

Both platforms offer the same essential functionality. Users can post their own content (text, images, video) which is displayed on a timeline on their own profile page, which can include a bio, profile picture, and header image. 

Posts on Twitter/X can be 280 characters in length, or up to 25,000 for X Premium subscribers, while Bluesky offers no similar premium subscription service, and all users face the same 300 character limit for their posts. Posts can include dynamic mentions of other users on each platform, by prefacing their username with the @ symbol, and users can reply to each other’s posts to create discussion threads, or simply repost to their own timelines. 

Both platforms also provide users with a timeline consisting of content from other users - either those you have chosen to follow, or those the algorithm thinks you might like. Other similarities include the use of hashtags to categorize and discover posts on related topics, and the ability to create lists of users.

So, in terms of the microblogging fundamentals, Bluesky and Twitter/X offer similar capabilities. 

Once you look beyond those basic features it becomes clear that Twitter/X is a much more mature platform than Bluesky, and offers a far richer feature-set. For example, Twitter/X has great Trending Topics functionality that shows you what’s happening around the world, in real-time, which is part of what helps it to deliver on its promise of being the world’s Town Square.


Bluesky has only just added a beta version of its own Trending Topics feature, and at present it feels much more basic, with limited results and no ability to focus on local trends rather than global. 

Twitter/X also offers a far wider range of content types for users. This includes relatively simple things, such as the ability to add polls to posts, through to more sophisticated formats such as Spaces, which are audio discussions that can be live-streamed to a wide audience. Users can also easily live-stream video through their profile. 

A key difference between the two services is how verification works. On Twitter/X anybody can get a verified “Blue Tick” if they subscribe to the premium service. On Bluesky, verification is only available to people who own their own website or URL, and the process works by changing your Bluesky handle to the URL of your website. 

The main difference between the two social networks is in their user-base. Twitter/X has been around since 2006 and has had plenty of time to build up a substantial number of users, currently estimated to be at around 336 million, whereas Bluesky has around 25 million. 

Due to the network effect, this means it’s easier to build up a following on Twitter/X simply because it has significantly more people using it. New users to Bluesky will find that it can take longer to find an audience, and consequently engagement will be much lower than they might expect from other social channels. 

At present, Bluesky is essentially a basic version of Twitter/X with a much smaller user community, and for that reason brand social media managers may see limited value in it. However, Bluesky is gradually attracting an increasing number of users who are looking for a different experience to other more established social platforms, so it’s certainly worth experimenting with. 

Bluesky Vs Twitter/X, What’s the Difference?

Microblogging platform, Bluesky, is the hot new thing all of a sudden. 

But we don’t mean hot like TikTok, with hundreds of millions of new Gen - Z users, because Bluesky hasn’t passed 25 million users yet. And it’s not exactly new either, since it’s been around for close to five years now. 

No, this is a different kind of hot. This kind of hot is your favorite writers, journalists, academics, researchers, actors, artists, creators, comedians and other people of note all suddenly choosing to hang out there. 

Bluesky hasn’t enjoyed the sheer explosion of user numbers that we’ve seen on apps like TikTok, but since November it’s seen a surge in popularity amongst the kind of people who have something interesting to say, and prefer to say it in pithy, short-form posts. 

Since Twitter underwent significant changes following its sale in 2022, some users decided that it wasn’t the right platform for them any more, and began looking for an alternative with similar functionality. For a while, they were spoiled for choice, with lots of new microblogging platforms sprouting up and hoping to become serious rivals to Twitter. 

Many of them withered on the vine, but a few managed to keep going long enough to attract a big enough user base to sustain them. Mastodon got a lot of attention as a potential Twitter alternative, but the user experience was just a bit too clunky and many people found it confusing. Current user numbers for Mastodon are around 10 million. 

Threads, on the other hand, was everything you’d expect from Meta, slick, nicely designed, and easy to get to grips with. By integrating it lightly with Instagram, Meta was able to drive significant user growth, and the platform currently has 275 million users, making it the closer competitor to Twitter in terms of sheer volume. 

That’s more than ten times the number of users that Bluesky currently has, so why are some people choosing Bluesky over Threads? Let’s look more closely at what the platform offers. 

Bluesky is a micro-blogging platform where users can publish posts of up to 300 characters, along with images and videos. Your timeline offers a lot of different options, but at its most basic you can choose a simple feed of the most recent posts from the accounts you follow in reverse chronological order, just like things used to be in the early days of social media. This simplicity is popular among a lot of users who don’t like the new era of algorithm-driven timelines. 

There’s also the Discover timeline (or Feed, as they’re called on Bluesky) which uses an algorithm to suggest stuff it thinks you’ll be interested in. But one of the clever things about Bluesky is that anybody can create a custom Feed, based on their own algorithm, which can be shared with other users. There’s the What’s Hot feed which shows popular content, the BookSky feed for people who love reading, the Popular With Friends feed that shows you content that was liked by the people you follow, and hundreds more covering a wide variety of topics.

You can select which Feeds to add to your profile, and easily swipe between them. When you open the app (web or mobile) it defaults to whichever feed you were looking at the last time you used the app. There’s also a lot of flexibility in how replies, threads, reposts and quote-posts are displayed in your timelines, so you can easily set things up just the way you like. 

Hashtags can be used to signify that a post is relevant to a particular topic, and clicking a hashtag will show you all other posts that use it, which can be sorted by popularity or recency. 

Bluesky has recently added a beta version of its Trending Topics system to help you discover the big discussion points of the day, but it's still quite rudimentary and of limited use. 

Account profiles are straight-forward - you get a profile picture, banner image, a display name that doesn’t have to be your real name, and a 256 character bio. You can set up multiple profiles that can be managed from the same account, which is useful if you want to keep a professional and personal account separate but easily accessible. 

There’s no blue-tick style verification system, but anybody who owns a web domain name can easily configure Bluesky to use their domain name as their Bluesky handle. For example, Netflix uses the handle @netflix.com. This works as a de-facto verification system because only the owner of a domain name can perform the necessary setup to use it as their Bluesky profile name. 

Bluesky feels much closer to the original Twitter user experience, whereas Threads has a very different look and feel. But more importantly, although much harder to quantify, the vibe is just different. 

Threads grew very quickly by driving users across from Instagram, and the community which developed there can feel like an extension of Instagram. That’s not to say it isn’t a fun place to spend time, and there are lots of high-profile accounts on Threads that help make it an entertaining social media experience, but for anybody who spent a long time on Twitter, it just isn’t the same. 

Even though Twitter didn’t migrate users to Bluesky, the two platforms are cut from the same cloth, and that’s immediately apparent when you start using Bluesky, both in terms of the interface and the kind of community it has attracted. On Bluesky, you’re more likely to find historians and authors chatting and joking with each other about a big news story, for example, while on Threads you’re more likely to see big-brand accounts jumping on viral trends.

If Instagram is a fashionable nightclub, then Threads is a raucous bar, and Bluesky is a dinner party full of people you find really interesting. 

One of the things that really helps create this kind of environment on Bluesky is “Starter Packs” which are curated lists of accounts that anybody can build, and they’re usually focused on a specific area of interest. Whether you’re into history, current affairs, science, standup comedy, or whatever else, there’s a good chance that some kind Bluesky has already built a Starter Pack featuring all the best profiles for you to follow. 

This helps new users immediately start getting value from the platform, because you don’t have to spend a lot of time looking for profiles that match your interests. This means new users aren’t faced with a barren timeline, which is one of the main challenges of convincing people to continue using a social media site after they set up an account, and they instantly feel like there’s an interesting community to participate in. 

In 2019 Bluesky started life as an internal project at Twitter, with the aim of building a decentralized social media platform. This was born out of a recognition that, while Twitter was becoming a valuable and popular communications channel for sharing live, real-time updates with the world, the fact that it was owned and operated by a single organization made it vulnerable.

A decentralized Twitter-like platform would work more like the Internet itself, built on open-source protocols which allow the overall network to continue working if one part of it fails, or even if a particular platform, such as Bluesky itself, were to collapse. 

The result of this project was the AT Protocol, an open-source social networking standard which would allow users to easily move all of their data (profile, content, connections) between different platforms, and for developers to build a more robust, decentralized social-web. Bluesky itself was built as a proof-of-concept for the AT Protocol, to show that it could work.

As of 2024, the AT Protocol is still under active development and has not yet been broadly adopted outside of Bluesky itself. But that hasn’t stopped Bluesky from attracting a lot of attention and a steadily growing user base. 

In 2021 Bluesky was spun out from Twitter as Bluesky Social PBC, an independent Public Benefit Company which is a specific type of business where directors are not only accountable to their shareholders, but are also required to make a positive impact on society. The company is now owned by CEO, Jay Graber, and several other employees. In Bluesky’s case, its stated social mission is to “develop and drive large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.”

If you’re a brand social media manager wondering whether it’s worth investing resources in Bluesky, there’s no real reason not to start experimenting with it. If you’re already creating content for X/Twitter or Threads, then it’s going to be very easy to simply repurpose that content for Bluesky. 

While there might be some additional work involved in community management on the platform, the relatively low user numbers mean that should be minimal for the time being. As the platform grows, you can make a value judgement about whether any increase in reach and engagement it offers is a worthwhile return on investment.

At the moment, not many brands are active on Bluesky, so there's a good chance that early adopters can make an impact and build a following among the platform's fans. 

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TikTok is one of the most important channels right now, for brands, influencers, and other content creators to reach new and engaged audiences. In fact, it is the sixth most popular social media platform, with over 1 billion monthly active users! Given this, knowing the best time to post on TikTok is crucial to growing your presence. ⏰

While it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint exact and foolproof TikTok upload times that will work for everyone, we’ve done our best to compile a comprehensive guide to help you hone your TikTok business strategy.

Tip: If you'd like to know more about the best times to post on social media in general, check out this blog.

Facebook may still be the biggest platform by active users; but the average time per month users spend on TikTok is actually higher than they spend on Facebook 🤯.

As of October 2023, TikTok usage has surpassed YouTube at 33 hours per month, roughly 10 hours more than at the beginning of the year.

Want more stats? Check out the Global Digital Report for over 400 pages of digital marketing and social media data, take a look at general social media statistics, YouTube statistics, TikTok stats, and Twitter (X) statistics!

Because TikTok is used in such capacity worldwide, brands can have good luck using TikTok post times that are calibrated to Eastern Standard Time. This way, you can capture people during waking hours, in top TikTok usage countries across the globe. 

For example, 6am ET is 7pm in China. Meaning if you play your cards right, you can get in front of early morning scrollers as well as dinnertime scrollers. Talk about two birds with one stone!

The top times to post on TikTok for maximum engagement, from Influencer Marketing Hub, are:

The best TikTok post time fluctuates of course — according to industry, seasonality, and your specific business goals and location. But based on the analysis that led to the times laid out here, all these times are worth testing in your TikTok marketing.  

Posting to TikTok throughout the week will soon give you insights into what content performs the best. According to the study done by Influencer Marketing Hub, which analyzed the engagement rates of over 100,000 posts, these are optimal times to post each day:

Note: All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time

The best timeS to post on TikTok on Monday ARE 12 PM and 4 PM. Looks like most people enjoy a lunchtime scroll and a late afternoon wind-down scroll before the busy week ahead.

The best time to post on TikTok onTuesday is 4 to 8 AM, 10 AM, and 3PM. We’ve got some early riser scrollers on Tuesdays it seems!

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