Global Courant
Last month, two of the world’s richest and most influential men, who just happen to run rival social media networks, appeared to push each other to agree to a fight, making their platforms abuzz with the idea of a “cage match” between the billionaires. It should have been the ultimate cage fight in many ways. But it turns out that the fight will not be with fists, but with algorithms. The real battle began Thursday when Zuckerberg launched Threads, his company’s Twitter competitor.
Threads is a Twitter clone that Meta launched to complement Instagram, the popular photo-sharing network it bought over a decade ago. Meta’s attack on Twitter is the most interesting social media battle since Google+ attempted to overthrow Facebook. Many refer to Threads as a “Twitter Killer.”
The timing of Threads’ launch gives it such a menacing attitude. On Saturday, thousands of Twitter users complained that they were getting an error saying they had “exceeded” their “speed limit”. Then Elon Musk confirmed their concerns when he said that Twitter was temporarily limiting the number of messages users can read on a daily basis to allay concerns about data scraping. As a single event, that may not have been enough to force users to a new platform. But since acquiring the platform, Musk has changed the Twitter experience by tinkering with the algorithm and other features. Many of these changes have received criticism from users. So Saturday’s saga was just another piece of the domino falling.
In a post to his Threads account on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said, “I think there should be a public conversation app with over a billion people on it. Twitter has had a chance to do this, but it hasn’t done it right. Hopefully we will.
Musk chimed in, saying he was unimpressed with Threads and claimed he had canceled his Instagram account. “It’s infinitely better to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than to indulge in the fake happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram,” he wrote on Twitter. Twitter.
Threads won 50 million users on day one, indicating that many people are excited about the launch and are probably tired of Musk’s myriad experiments. For context, that’s almost 20 percent of Twitter 259.4 million daily active users. Many tech companies have tried take advantage of the turmoil on Twitter in recent months, including Donald Trump’s Truth Social. However, most users who try to migrate come back. But Threads has an edge, backed by Meta’s deep pockets and Instagram’s massive user base of over two billion monthly active users worldwide. And now the big question on everyone’s mind is whether Threads can become the next microblogging giant.
Discussions are too big for Twitter to ignore
Twitter could have gotten all other attempts to recreate its product by simply ignoring them. But Threads is the company’s first real threat, and even the CEO knows it. Meta counts on three things to succeed, but whether those will be enough is another conversation.
First, Threads starts with the power of the Instagram network behind it. Users can log in with their Instagram account and bring their existing contacts with them. This helps Threads grow its network quickly. But it also makes it harder to leave. Users cannot delete their Threads account without deleting their Instagram account.
However, the link with Instagram also suggests another possibility. Discussions can be a place for a different kind of conversation. If Twitter is where journalists, politicians, and politicians gather to fight over the day’s news, perhaps Instagram’s more creative style could turn Threads into what Meta calls “a positive and creative place for your ideas.” But in the end, it’s the users who decide what a network is used for, not the owner.
Second, Meta hopes Threads will appeal to users fed up with Elon Musk’s controversial ownership of Twitter. Many users have complained that the network has become a more hostile environment since he took over. And these complaints point back to Musk’s campaign to relax the speech restrictions and his attempt to push back the platform’s content moderation efforts. Also, Musk’s own often erratic antics on Twitter soured many users’ opinions. Now Threads wants to be that alternative with better content checks. But Meta also has a history of content moderation failures.
The third – and most intriguing – pitch Meta has made is that Threads are interoperable. Users will eventually be able to interact with people on other networks, read posts, or stream their own messages outside of Threads itself. This feature is the exact opposite of what Meta has done with its platforms. It normally maintains control over everything its users do, and that business model has worked so far. Advertisers are often more impressed by platforms that have sufficient control over their audience. But Threads is the company’s chance to experiment with this new model on an app that’s a long way from its core products.
Twitter’s biggest shortcoming in its 17-year history stems from not doing enough to adapt and evolve its service to reach a wider audience. It has struggled under its weight for so long. But now the weight class has changed and he is competing against the biggest social network. Winning the data wars means that Musk must somehow beat Zuckerberg on his own turf. Will that happen? Time will tell.
