What do you think of Threads, Meta’s new Twitter Alternative?
54 comments
Personally I can't really get into it because there is no web interface. IOW, as far as I can tell if you aren't willing to use the App, you can't interact with it. I like having a full keyboard and a text box large enough I can actually read things. For all that I'm not a Twitter fan, this seems worse to me.
I keep saying it's not actually a Twitter alternative - that's a marketing ploy. But Threads doesn't have DMs (by far the most important Twitter feature for any user of that platform).
The whole Twitter thing is just PR.
To me, the real story is the use of ActivityPub - the decentralized protocol that powers Mastadon.
I feel like I haven't been able to nail down whether Threads uses it (I've seen sources say definitely yes, and definitely no) but to me, THAT would be the only reason to launch this thing.
Not to eat Twitter's lunch, but to be the first major player into DeSo
The whole Twitter thing is just PR.
To me, the real story is the use of ActivityPub - the decentralized protocol that powers Mastadon.
I feel like I haven't been able to nail down whether Threads uses it (I've seen sources say definitely yes, and definitely no) but to me, THAT would be the only reason to launch this thing.
Not to eat Twitter's lunch, but to be the first major player into DeSo
> But Threads doesn't have DMs (by far the most important Twitter feature for any user of that platform).
... Eh?
I was a heavy Twitter user from 2007 to the ascension of naughty ol' mr car. I think I maybe sent ten DMs, ever. I don't think it even had them for years after launch.
Like I don't doubt that they're important to some people, but this seems like weird positioning.
... Eh?
I was a heavy Twitter user from 2007 to the ascension of naughty ol' mr car. I think I maybe sent ten DMs, ever. I don't think it even had them for years after launch.
Like I don't doubt that they're important to some people, but this seems like weird positioning.
As far as I can tell they don’t have support for activity pub but they say it’s coming and they’re working on it. Will they actually do it? Hard to say.
I’m pretty confident they will, if only to cooperate with the EUs digital markets act.
Yeah that's interesting though because there are a lot of other rules they'll need to follow in order to comply with the new regulations. So it's gonna be interesting to see how they approach it. It's also going to be interesting to see how the fediverse will respond to this because it would be such an outlier in terms of size and resources.
I think most instances will just have to block it, honestly. Unless it... provides fediverse access only to well-behaved accounts or something? This _could_ work, but would be a pretty bizarre user experience.
Assuming it just federates as-is, though, I don't think it'll last a day on most instances.
Assuming it just federates as-is, though, I don't think it'll last a day on most instances.
Yeah but how do you even define well-behaved? That can become complicated real fast. My bet is that they'll just allow people to follow an account using the classic @[email protected] and they'll allow for export of the content and that's about it.
Is that part of DMA compliance? If so, then what about Facebook itself?
lol... well here's one opinion
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36669480
Yeah, I'm watching this with great interest.
Why do you say DMs are by far the most important feature? Lots of other services provide DMs besides Twitter, and I would not say it is the key thing that makes Twitter what it is. At least for myself, in a dozen years on the platform I used DMs only a small handful of times.
Maybe this is different depending on what industry you're in - but for a lot of people in my circle (tech/startup media), the incredible thing about Twitter is that you can DM almost anyone.
I've connected with so many people there.
There's also a culture of DMing there, where your messages have a higher likelihood of getting replied to than other places like LinkedIn.
I didn't use DMs for years. And also wasn't a big Twitter person at all. So I get it. But that all changed a few years ago, and now, I'm tellin ya' - the only feature that matters there is the DMs.
I've connected with so many people there.
There's also a culture of DMing there, where your messages have a higher likelihood of getting replied to than other places like LinkedIn.
I didn't use DMs for years. And also wasn't a big Twitter person at all. So I get it. But that all changed a few years ago, and now, I'm tellin ya' - the only feature that matters there is the DMs.
See, this is the fascinating thing about Twitter; it's so incredibly compartmentalised (or at least _was_; as another article posted here recently went into some detail on, recent changes have tended to break this). I had no idea this was even a thing; in my former Twitter circles this behaviour (unsolicited) would've largely been considered pretty rude, and in any case it's not clear why anyone would want to do it.
> the incredible thing about Twitter is that you can DM almost anyone.
I can't imagine having open DMs. I've tried that, and ugh, the unsolicited messages from strangers were terrible.
I can't imagine having open DMs. I've tried that, and ugh, the unsolicited messages from strangers were terrible.
I have never sent or received a DM on twitter
> DMs (by far the most important Twitter feature for any user of that platform).
That's incorrect. Also Threads is currently a MVP, and will quickly iterate to meet users demands. It can afford to quickly iterate as it's a small team that built a codebase from the ground-up. Unlike Twitter, which is saddled in a swamp of legacy where everything they touch... something breaks.
That's incorrect. Also Threads is currently a MVP, and will quickly iterate to meet users demands. It can afford to quickly iterate as it's a small team that built a codebase from the ground-up. Unlike Twitter, which is saddled in a swamp of legacy where everything they touch... something breaks.
Are DMs really an important feature? Granted I'm not a heavy Twitter user, but I have never sent or read a single DM. For all I know there are unread DMs sitting in my account, I would never open or read one anyway.
As much as I hate Meta, it feels like the lesser of two evils. Elon has already brainwashed tesla fanbois and is likely going to use Twitter to further his own agenda political or monetary. He has already silenced critics there.
Meta is in the crosshairs of regulators after Cambridge Analytica.
Twitter is dead anyway, account walling tweets, decreased moderation and rate limits. It's all worse for any advertiser who has stuck with them post-Elon
Meta is in the crosshairs of regulators after Cambridge Analytica.
Twitter is dead anyway, account walling tweets, decreased moderation and rate limits. It's all worse for any advertiser who has stuck with them post-Elon
> Meta is in the crosshairs of regulators after Cambridge Analytica.
I'll believe it when I see some actual results. With the kind of money and influence that Facebook has, the wrist slaps they get are just BAU.
I'll believe it when I see some actual results. With the kind of money and influence that Facebook has, the wrist slaps they get are just BAU.
How is it dead when it has more usage than at any time in history (if you believe musk)?
Sure it's worse for advertisers but is that really what we base success on?
Sure it's worse for advertisers but is that really what we base success on?
> if you believe musk
Ah, well, that's the rub, isn't it?
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36658486
Ah, well, that's the rub, isn't it?
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36658486
Reverse network effects from an exodus is how social networks die, when all your friends and influencers leave to Threads/Bluesky you'll leave. Elon get less revenue from less users, cuts even more, worsening the product, fueling the exodus. Vicious cycle all the way down. After trying his hand a influencing politics, he'll get tired of the money pit and offload it at a loss or straight up shut it down.
If twitter gets him political wins then that'd be a success, but there are other billionaires out there getting their way politically without burning $50bn or the public scrutiny.
If twitter gets him political wins then that'd be a success, but there are other billionaires out there getting their way politically without burning $50bn or the public scrutiny.
I like it. It reminds me of early era Facebook. Even zuck has been excited and shitposts like a 20 year old.
I don't think it'll stay that way for more than a month though. I see people tagging product owners, asking them to ban words like groomer because it induces suicide in LGBT or something. There's already giveaway campaigns to increase follower count.
It's novel fun now, enjoy it while it lasts. I fear it might be an EEE campaign to destroy the fediverse rather than twitter, but we'll see.
I don't think it'll stay that way for more than a month though. I see people tagging product owners, asking them to ban words like groomer because it induces suicide in LGBT or something. There's already giveaway campaigns to increase follower count.
It's novel fun now, enjoy it while it lasts. I fear it might be an EEE campaign to destroy the fediverse rather than twitter, but we'll see.
> I fear it might be an EEE campaign to destroy the fediverse rather than twitter, but we'll see.
What's the motive? The Fediverse has a 7 digit user base, while Twitter has a 9 digit user base, so why would Meta care more about the former than the latter?
Not to mention, Threads shipped without ActivityPub support, so it's obviously not their top priority.
What's the motive? The Fediverse has a 7 digit user base, while Twitter has a 9 digit user base, so why would Meta care more about the former than the latter?
Not to mention, Threads shipped without ActivityPub support, so it's obviously not their top priority.
Slope vs y-intercept. Slope is a lot more dangerous. Twitter is sloping down, i.e. people would quit Twitter for some other social media. But so is Facebook. They're aware of this and have been rebranding away from FB, promising the next bigger thing.
Fediverse is slowly sloping up. That's a threat because it'll pull people away from FB, Instagram, etc.
But if 90% of the Fediverse is Threads, they have a bit more control over it. And they could ditch it later if it proves that it's no longer a threat, like they did with Parse and XMPP.
Fediverse is slowly sloping up. That's a threat because it'll pull people away from FB, Instagram, etc.
But if 90% of the Fediverse is Threads, they have a bit more control over it. And they could ditch it later if it proves that it's no longer a threat, like they did with Parse and XMPP.
> But so is Facebook.
This is false. Facebook user base is increasing:
https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/...
> Fediverse is slowly sloping up.
Slowly being the key word. In 7 years, Mastodon has got fewer than 2 million users.
In 6 days, Threads got more 100 million users, without Fediverse support. Now that's a slope! There's something to be said for absolute numbers.
> That's a threat because it'll pull people away from FB, Instagram, etc.
Mastodon users are coming largely from Twitter. There's no evidence they're coming from Facebook and Instagram. And again, Mastodon's entire 7 year user base was surpassed in a day or two by Threads.
This is false. Facebook user base is increasing:
https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/...
> Fediverse is slowly sloping up.
Slowly being the key word. In 7 years, Mastodon has got fewer than 2 million users.
In 6 days, Threads got more 100 million users, without Fediverse support. Now that's a slope! There's something to be said for absolute numbers.
> That's a threat because it'll pull people away from FB, Instagram, etc.
Mastodon users are coming largely from Twitter. There's no evidence they're coming from Facebook and Instagram. And again, Mastodon's entire 7 year user base was surpassed in a day or two by Threads.
What's EEE?
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish
The "embrace, extend, and extinguish" strategy is introducing a technology compatible with competitors, extending that tech with proprietary additions, then using those differences to disadvantage competitors.
The "embrace, extend" phrase appeared in a 1996 New York Times article on Microsoft, and for a decade or two was considered Microsoft's de facto strategy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis...
The "embrace, extend, and extinguish" strategy is introducing a technology compatible with competitors, extending that tech with proprietary additions, then using those differences to disadvantage competitors.
The "embrace, extend" phrase appeared in a 1996 New York Times article on Microsoft, and for a decade or two was considered Microsoft's de facto strategy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis...
A reminder in this context: Facebook Chat used to be very open and operate with XMPP compatability, but stopped at some point: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9266769
Twitter is dead. Anyone left on twitter that didn’t go to fedi will jump to threads now that a bunch of high profile accounts have. The only people left will be alt right musk fanatics and twitter will be relegated to being on par with gab/truth/parler etc.
It's alright. The visual design is clean but has some accessibility issues and small things that bother me. Dislike the algo-only feed right now (apparently they are working on this). Love the post editor (plus having ~500 characters and 10 images). Interesting to see how it ends up after integrating with ActivityPub, whether anything changes. Still using Twitter and Farcaster (https://farcaster.xyz). Also making me realize the need for social feed aggregators like https://yup.io
I think it is a blatant swipe at Musk’s Twitter; attempting to capitalise on the uncertainty that’s going on over there.
I’ll never use it, I don’t have any social media, but I’m all for shaking things up. Wish the same would happen with YouTube.
I’ll never use it, I don’t have any social media, but I’m all for shaking things up. Wish the same would happen with YouTube.
It feels like a psyop. Every single post feels manufactured and fake. Celebrities with millions of followers on different platforms posting things like “Excited to try out social media! What’s everyone’s favorite color?”
My first thought was to wonder who was getting paid, who was a bot, etc.
I think everyone will get bored of the sterile nature really quick and it will either die or become Twitter 2.0
My first thought was to wonder who was getting paid, who was a bot, etc.
I think everyone will get bored of the sterile nature really quick and it will either die or become Twitter 2.0
It's blue! We are totally best friends now.
Pros:
- Moderation seems reasonable, aggressively removing hateful/violent content but hardly ever banning people. So far this is keeping the more offensive bluechecks away.
- After my first few follows, the algorithmic feed quickly showed me a lot of my favorite follows from twitter, despite starting from a pretty bare follow list (I'm not much of an Insta user). So discoverability is excellent.
- UI is clean and light
- no Musk.
Cons:
- Lot of missing critical features. No thread search, no hashtags, no web-interface, no chronological feed.
- Zuckerberg.
- The algorithmic feed happily dumps an infinite list of inane celebrity and influencer fillter on you the moment you run out of your preferred content.
Mostly it's showed me how awfully Mastodon fumbled the bag with their terrible discovery. The end-zone was wide-open here.
Honestly, all Mastodon needed to win this game was the better search and some "friends of friends" kind of algorithmic feed. Now it's probably too late.
- Moderation seems reasonable, aggressively removing hateful/violent content but hardly ever banning people. So far this is keeping the more offensive bluechecks away.
- After my first few follows, the algorithmic feed quickly showed me a lot of my favorite follows from twitter, despite starting from a pretty bare follow list (I'm not much of an Insta user). So discoverability is excellent.
- UI is clean and light
- no Musk.
Cons:
- Lot of missing critical features. No thread search, no hashtags, no web-interface, no chronological feed.
- Zuckerberg.
- The algorithmic feed happily dumps an infinite list of inane celebrity and influencer fillter on you the moment you run out of your preferred content.
Mostly it's showed me how awfully Mastodon fumbled the bag with their terrible discovery. The end-zone was wide-open here.
Honestly, all Mastodon needed to win this game was the better search and some "friends of friends" kind of algorithmic feed. Now it's probably too late.
It's ok. Here are some of my thoughts:
- The lack of a web interface to browse Threads is frustrating, you can only view a specific thread someone has shared a link to before it forces you to download the app. - No following feed, so I've had to mute dozens of media/political/brand accounts that appear on the homepage. - No chronological feed is annoying. - You also can't search for keywords/hashtags. I primarily use twitter to receive real time commentary on events, so this is the biggest downside in my opinion.
Overall, Threads feels like a beta product that was rushed to release to take advantage of the rate limits implemented on Twitter. We'll see in a few months if Meta can follow through in building an app with the feature parity of Twitter.
- The lack of a web interface to browse Threads is frustrating, you can only view a specific thread someone has shared a link to before it forces you to download the app. - No following feed, so I've had to mute dozens of media/political/brand accounts that appear on the homepage. - No chronological feed is annoying. - You also can't search for keywords/hashtags. I primarily use twitter to receive real time commentary on events, so this is the biggest downside in my opinion.
Overall, Threads feels like a beta product that was rushed to release to take advantage of the rate limits implemented on Twitter. We'll see in a few months if Meta can follow through in building an app with the feature parity of Twitter.
It's a good start, they have a lot of work to do to add some missing features, and apparently it broke Instagram, but those are growing pains.
I'd be happy if Threads establishes itself as a version of Twitters for creators, artists, scientists, professionals, and stays away from politics, trolls and polarizing opinions. If people want this, Twitter can have at it.
Also I'm looking forward to BlueSky opening as they also show promise. There won't be a single replacement, or a complete replacement, for Twitter so quickly. It'll be a process.
I'd be happy if Threads establishes itself as a version of Twitters for creators, artists, scientists, professionals, and stays away from politics, trolls and polarizing opinions. If people want this, Twitter can have at it.
Also I'm looking forward to BlueSky opening as they also show promise. There won't be a single replacement, or a complete replacement, for Twitter so quickly. It'll be a process.
I dunno… people go where the people are and Threads picked up 100 million users in 4 days. (Side note - geez, what an amazing technical achievement… props to the Meta team for their operational chops)
Needs an actual website. Needs an iPad app. Needs messaging/DM. Needs to sort out spam (all my instagram spam has already made it to threads). Needs a filter so I can see threads from people I actually follow not by people I don't care about.
It's an early start clearly to capture people frustrated by what twitter has become. There's a LOT of work still to be done though. It's more a beta than a proper full blown product at this point.
It's an early start clearly to capture people frustrated by what twitter has become. There's a LOT of work still to be done though. It's more a beta than a proper full blown product at this point.
No web browser access -- failure
Privacy nightmare -- failure
That's too much for me so, well, not touching it.
Privacy nightmare -- failure
That's too much for me so, well, not touching it.
Does Threads/Instagram have verification of notable accounts? That seemed like the most useful aspect of old Twitter - to know a comment was being made by a real person.
I disabled my account when I realized I was spending more time muting people than doing anything else.
It's awful. Feels like it's going for an atmosphere of total safety and sterility.
Ho hum ....
The problem is I don't have an Instagram account.
I don't think people should be using social media as it has a variety of deleterious health effects.
Right now, I don't see any value in Meta Threads beyond the usual festival of parading celebrity posts in front of everyone else struggling to make a name for themselves. They dropped the ball on creating opportunity for discovery, just as all these other failed platforms have done. There also seems to be some sort of social rank that is assigned to every account behind the scenes, where it clearly plays out in terms of which accounts grow and which ones don't. It's really the same old model, with less features to sugar coat the real basis of the app (which is to just do the same thing eventually ---> -ad sales- in a new suit).
It does not appear that any real algorithm is at work. It is just foisting stagnant posts by celebrity accounts in front of everyone, and promoting the same people that had high follower counts on Twitter... Nothing about the app is revolutionary, at all.
The site also has been randomly muting videos I upload without any sort of explanation, and there has been no response from support for this issue since I submitted it on day 1. There is very little video content, and video is not displayed particularly well, so that rules out any strong competition with TikTok.
Even though an app has 100 Million people signing up, most aren't posting, and that's just an indication that people just want to prevent others from stealing their IDs, or that perhaps many are registering fake accounts to sell or use for brigading later on. If nobody uses their accounts, it's a failure, so reports about "wild success" means very little in my opinion, especially when registration for most was simply a few clicks over from Instagram to start an account on Threads.
It doesn't seem like there is much thought behind products of this kind in terms of adding value to the experience for users... There are really just a bunch of tricks and PR to keep people signing up and in keeping people uselessly posting in hopes they will go viral. Meta built a platform, so what? They already ran 3 terrible ones that are failing miserably... In order to compete now, you have to burn a lot of cash, which pretty much shuts out the really innovative ideas, and it shows. Meta Threads is a half-baked clone of a bad era from Twitter, they really didn't ask themselves what they should have done differently, they just cloned Twitter.
This is where we are in terms of the Internet, original ideas that are highly helpful and highly functional just aren't happening, there is only "bait and switch" ideas and strategically planned opportunism developed strictly around baiting people in for profit, and that's going to just keep failing hard over time. It's really not differentiated at all from what has been done before, and it's painful to think that all that money and labor went to just recreating the same old "spinning wheel" of artificial online celebrity adoration and suppression of undiscovered talent that happens in pretty much every other major social media app these days.
It does not appear that any real algorithm is at work. It is just foisting stagnant posts by celebrity accounts in front of everyone, and promoting the same people that had high follower counts on Twitter... Nothing about the app is revolutionary, at all.
The site also has been randomly muting videos I upload without any sort of explanation, and there has been no response from support for this issue since I submitted it on day 1. There is very little video content, and video is not displayed particularly well, so that rules out any strong competition with TikTok.
Even though an app has 100 Million people signing up, most aren't posting, and that's just an indication that people just want to prevent others from stealing their IDs, or that perhaps many are registering fake accounts to sell or use for brigading later on. If nobody uses their accounts, it's a failure, so reports about "wild success" means very little in my opinion, especially when registration for most was simply a few clicks over from Instagram to start an account on Threads.
It doesn't seem like there is much thought behind products of this kind in terms of adding value to the experience for users... There are really just a bunch of tricks and PR to keep people signing up and in keeping people uselessly posting in hopes they will go viral. Meta built a platform, so what? They already ran 3 terrible ones that are failing miserably... In order to compete now, you have to burn a lot of cash, which pretty much shuts out the really innovative ideas, and it shows. Meta Threads is a half-baked clone of a bad era from Twitter, they really didn't ask themselves what they should have done differently, they just cloned Twitter.
This is where we are in terms of the Internet, original ideas that are highly helpful and highly functional just aren't happening, there is only "bait and switch" ideas and strategically planned opportunism developed strictly around baiting people in for profit, and that's going to just keep failing hard over time. It's really not differentiated at all from what has been done before, and it's painful to think that all that money and labor went to just recreating the same old "spinning wheel" of artificial online celebrity adoration and suppression of undiscovered talent that happens in pretty much every other major social media app these days.
What's twitter?
I think both could co-exist, Elon is trying to build a premium paid platform for the "intellectual elites" which is what I feel currently.
And threads are for everyone, the general public.
For now I am good with twitter though.
And threads are for everyone, the general public.
For now I am good with twitter though.
His paid platform is making it hard for intellectual elites to stay. No content moderation. (Hate groups love it. And no advertisers want their ads next to Neo nazi trolls). The rate limiting nonsense. Tons of trolls and garbage on the platform. Anyone can pose as anyone for 8 bucks a month. It’s a failed company. Why anyone still works there who has options is madness to me. If you’re stuck on a H1B visa that’s one thing but if you can move and you don’t worship Elon then move.
Threads is backed by a competent run company. Sure Facebook is on the whole likely bad for democracy and the world but it’s paying its bills and has a content moderation arm (how well it works is meh).
I’m on threads, mastodon, Twitter, and post.news. Twitter still seems to be where stuff is happening but it’s slowly falling apart and I’m seeing fewer and fewer new things there.
Threads seems to be where people are going. Having your instagram network is a baller move to bootstrap Threads. And if a quarter of instagram’s users come over it’ll have more users than Twitter and it’s already going to be extremely profitable. Threads is an existential threat to Twitter.
Threads is backed by a competent run company. Sure Facebook is on the whole likely bad for democracy and the world but it’s paying its bills and has a content moderation arm (how well it works is meh).
I’m on threads, mastodon, Twitter, and post.news. Twitter still seems to be where stuff is happening but it’s slowly falling apart and I’m seeing fewer and fewer new things there.
Threads seems to be where people are going. Having your instagram network is a baller move to bootstrap Threads. And if a quarter of instagram’s users come over it’ll have more users than Twitter and it’s already going to be extremely profitable. Threads is an existential threat to Twitter.
> premium paid platform for the "intellectual elites"
The idea that the blueticks could be described as "intellectual elites"... Well, I very rarely actually literally laugh out loud at this website, but that did it.
That always _kind of_ was Twitter's positioning, bar the 'paid' bit (Twitter blue, well, existed, and that's about all you could say for it), but it's not something that Musk has exactly been encouraging.
The idea that the blueticks could be described as "intellectual elites"... Well, I very rarely actually literally laugh out loud at this website, but that did it.
That always _kind of_ was Twitter's positioning, bar the 'paid' bit (Twitter blue, well, existed, and that's about all you could say for it), but it's not something that Musk has exactly been encouraging.
The ticks are there to show a high confidence that whatever the content is, has been posted by a real person. I got my tick because I seem to have divergent opinions from a lot of people, and that stupid tick makes them engage with my ideas hopefully for the better instead of rejecting them out of hand by passively disagreeing. It hasn't been all that long and it already changed my mind on something.
That stupid blue tick is important to have people engage in discourse, it's healthy for people to talk instead of vilifing anybody not in your bubble.
To think it represents intellectual elites is a mistake and it's missing the point.
That stupid blue tick is important to have people engage in discourse, it's healthy for people to talk instead of vilifing anybody not in your bubble.
To think it represents intellectual elites is a mistake and it's missing the point.
Meta has launched ‘Threads’ an alternative to Twitter. Have you signed up for Threads? What do you think, does it live up to its Hype?
I believe that because of Meta copying and integrating features from their competitors (Snapchat, Twitter and others) they will create a monopoly on social media. Instagram added stories a feature on snapchat that is really popular. Slowly they will make a platform which has everything a user needs. Also they will try to buy everything just like Whatsapp.