Title: Threads: Meta’s Game-Changing Social Media App Takes on Twitter
Introduction:
Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, has launched a new app called Threads that aims to provide a friendly alternative to struggling social media platform Twitter. With over 10 million sign-ups within hours of its launch, Threads poses a direct threat to Twitter, which has faced numerous crises since its acquisition by Elon Musk for $44 billion. This article delves into the details of Threads, its connection to Instagram, its potential impact on Twitter, and how Meta aims to provide a healthier and more successful social media experience.
1. The Birth of Threads: A New Competitor to Twitter
– Threads is a text-based conversation app designed to offer a friendlier alternative to Twitter.
– Users can post up to 500 characters, along with links, photos, and videos.
– Similar to Twitter, Threads allows users to reply to, like, and share posts.
2. The Integration with Instagram: Instant Network and Usernames
– Threads is directly connected to Instagram, a popular photo sharing platform with over 2 billion users.
– Users can transfer their existing usernames and followers from Instagram, creating an instant network.
– This feature helps solve the “cold start” problem faced by new social media platforms.
3. Meta’s Perspective: A Healthier Replacement for Twitter
– Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, believes Threads can provide a healthier and more successful social media experience.
– Unlike Twitter’s struggles with moderation, Meta has invested in tightening its policies and increasing moderation on its platforms.
– Zuckerberg aims to keep Threads friendly as it expands, which he views as a key factor for its success.
4. Twitter’s Challenges under Elon Musk’s Leadership
– Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the platform has faced numerous challenges and frustrations.
– Musk’s relaxed moderation approach led to advertisers fleeing the platform, resulting in a 50% drop in annual revenue.
– The introduction of an $8-a-month premium service with previously free features further frustrated users.
5. Nascent Challengers and Meta’s Growth Strategies
– Previous competitors to Twitter, such as Truth Social, Bluesky, and Mastodon, have struggled to gain large user communities.
– Meta, known for cloning features from rival platforms, aims to replicate successful elements of other social media platforms.
– The launch of Threads showcases Meta’s ability to integrate features from Instagram and capitalize on its existing user base.
6. Threads’ Algorithmic Timeline and Potential for Ads
– Unlike early Twitter, which displayed all tweets chronologically, Threads launched with an algorithmic timeline.
– Posts with the most engagement are prioritized, but occasionally, posts from non-followed users are also shown.
– Threads initially has little to no paid advertising, although some brands have made the switch to the new platform.
7. Meta’s Future Plans and Compatibility with ActivityPub
– Meta plans to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, an open social networking protocol.
– This compatibility would allow users to transfer their followers and content to other ActivityPub-based apps, including Mastodon and WordPress.
– Meta aims to create an ecosystem of interoperable services that help users find their community across multiple platforms.
Conclusion:
With the launch of Threads, Meta Platforms presents a formidable competitor to Twitter. By leveraging its connection to Instagram and providing a healthier social media experience, Meta aims to address the frustrations experienced by users and advertisers on Twitter under Elon Musk’s leadership. The compatibility of Threads with ActivityPub is a testament to Meta’s commitment to creating an open and interconnected social media environment. As the rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk intensifies, it remains to be seen how Threads will shape the future of social media and whether it will truly become Twitter’s “friendly” alternative.
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Meta said more than 10 million people have signed up to its long-awaited competitor Twitter in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted as a “friendly” alternative to the struggling social media platform owned by Elon Musk.
The app, called Threads, is a “text-based conversation app” where users can post up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos. As with Chirpingposts can be replied to, liked or shared with others.
Within hours of its launch Wednesday, Zuckerberg used the new app to brag about its user numbers. “Let’s do it. Welcome to Threads,” he wrote earlier in his first post.
Threads is directly connected to Instagram, HalfThe popular photo sharing platform with over 2 billion users and launches in more than 100 countries for iOS and Android. Users currently cannot join Threads without an Instagram account.
The launch of the app, dubbed the “Twitter killer” by some users, poses a direct threat to Musk’s platform. Since Twitter was bought by the billionaire for 44 billion dollars in October, it went from one crisis to another, frustrating users and large advertisers as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.
In a post Wednesday, Zuckerberg singled out Threads as a healthier replacement for Twitter.
“The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success,” Zuckerberg wrote. “This is one of the reasons Twitter has never been as successful as I think it should have been, and we want to do it differently.”
Meta has long grappled with concerns from academics and activists that it doesn’t police its Instagram and Facebook platforms enough, but over time it has tightened its policies and invested in more moderation.
The launch comes as Musk, by contrast, eased Twitter’s moderation approach, prompting dozens of advertisers to flee and slashing his $5 billion annual revenue by 50%.
Some Twitter users have been looking for alternatives to the platform to Musk’s moderation stance and the introduction of an $8-a-month premium service with some features that were previously free.
Over the weekend, Musk frustrated some Twitter users when he introduced temporary limits on the number of posts users could view. He said it was an attempt to “address the extreme levels of data scraping [and] system manipulation”.
So far, however, nascent challengers — like Donald Trump’s Truth Social, Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky, and Mastodon — have failed to get communities large enough to spill over into the mainstream.
Meta is known for cloning capabilities offered by rival platforms in its quest for growth, particularly when it created ‘Instagram Stories’, a copy of the endangered vertical video clips first popularized by smaller competitor Snap. Meta recently created a short-form video format, similar to TikTok owned by ByteDance, called Reels.
But the particular benefit of Threads is its connection to Instagram, which allows users to transfer their existing usernames and followers from the photo app, allowing them to have an instant network.
Some users said this helped bring the site to life as soon as they signed up, avoiding the “cold start” problem for new social platforms.
Unlike early Twitter, which displayed all tweets in chronological order, Threads launched with an algorithmic timeline, prioritizing posts with the most engagement and occasionally showing those from people a user doesn’t already follow.
Threads appears to have little to no paid ads at launch, although several brands have switched to the new platform.
Meta isn’t initially launching the app in the EU, its second-largest market by revenue, due to uncertainty over new regulations in the bloc.
The move heightens the rivalry between two of Silicon Valley’s top billionaires. Last month, Musk wrote on his platform that he was “ready for a cage match” with Zuckerberg, who recently rebranded himself as a ju-jitsu aficionado. Zuckerberg seemed to accept the challenge. It is unclear if and when the contest will take place.
In a statement on Wednesday, Meta said it has plans for Threads to be compatible with ActivityPub, an open social networking protocol established by the World Wide Web Consortium. This would mean that in the future, users would be able to push the following and the content they have on Threads to other ActivityPub protocol-based apps, including Mastodon and WordPress.
“Threads is Meta’s first app designed to be compatible with an open social networking protocol – we hope that by joining this rapidly growing ecosystem of interoperable services, Threads will help people find their community, no matter which app they use” Meta said.
Additional reporting by Tim Bradshaw and Cristina Criddle in London
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