The longest down in the history of Facebook, Whatsapp, Messenger and Instagram has meant for many a abrupt change in online routine . For some it was an evening of panic, for others an opportunity to resume activities away from the screen, while still others simply searched an alternative to vent their social needs . The latter were probably the majority given the numbers recorded by the rivals of Facebook & c.

According to the data reported by Sensor Tower in fact, whoever earned the most from the October 4th blackout was Snapchat , which saw its users grow by 23% compared to the previous week.

Among other social networks, users have increased the time spent on Twitter of 11% , while on TikTok only 2% . Similar fate has happened to pure messaging applications such as Telegram (+ 18%) and Signal (+15%) .

On the other hand, the downside are the obviously negative numbers recorded by Instagram ( – 38% of connected users), WhatsApp (-25%), Facebook (-24%) and Messenger (-20%) . However, we must not think that this is the signal of a definitive change on the contrary, already in the past these apps have shown to be flexible and to be able to quickly recover the lost ground.

Tempo speso sulle app il 4 ottobre

Time spent on apps on October 4th

If, instead of thinking about time spent, we analyze the scenario for active users , the figures move, but the positions remain essentially the same. So, as you can see from the graph below, rival apps have all gained ground, with the exception of TikTok, which curiously decreased by 1% compared to the previous week.

Conteggio delle sessioni attive il 4 otobre

Count of active sessions on October 4th

The absence of social networks was felt , but as we said it may not have lasting consequences. Different speech instead for the messaging apps that just last October 4 saw an exponential increase in new subscribers. Here the preliminary data from Sensor Tower shows a sudden increase with new users that on Signal they multiplied by 12 (from 74,000 on 3 October to 881,000 on day later. Less strong but still very consistent increases were also recorded by Telegram ( + 530% equivalent to 6.3 million new accounts) and Viber ( + 630% , going from 137,000 installations to around 1 million in 24 hours).

Numero di installazioni di Telegram, Signal e Viber nella settimana precedente al 4 ottobre

Number of Telegram, Signal and Viber installations in the week prior to October 4th

The numbers of the base, however, remain deeply distant: despite everything WhatsApp collects about 6 billion users worldwide , while Telegram and Signal respectively only reached 1 billion and 113 million . The analysis concludes with a note on the fact that the interest triggered by the down could have unexpected consequences in the coming weeks / months , consequences that will be analyzed over time, but which are not yet evident.

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