There’s been a lot said about the new Meta app Threads.
I’ve read a stack of it and here are the key points for you here.
There’s a TLDR summary and a key quote and a link.
TLDR: Threads is aiming to be less confrontational than Twitter
“Had Meta launched this app in 2019 it seems safe to say everyone would have rolled their eyes. Its big new feature is… logging on with Instagram? Come on… When the competition is an app where ’cisgender’ is considered a slur Threads has an easy time standing out as an oasis of calm and civility.”
Platformer Meta Unspools Threads
TLDR: Threads can be a proper Twitter challenger because it’s linked to Instagram which is already huge
“There have been challengers to the bird app in the past 12 months. Mastodon, Bluesky, Post are just a few. But the big advantage Threads has is that it is pushing invites to all of it’s 2bn+ active users on Instagram. And Meta have made it super easy to port over existing followers from Instagram, which has created the level of virality we have witnessed in the past 24hrs.”
Simon Baillie, LinkedIn: The 1st 24 hours on Meta’s Threads
TLDR: There’s lots of hype, lets see how it is in six months
“I have a tinge of the excitement I felt in 2012 when instagram launched, because it just seems to make sense, it works, it’s intuitive, sign up took seconds, and because we are instantly connected with all our existing friends and user base, so we a ready-made network, that’s already conversing.”
Dave Burt, LinkedIn Threads… a Master Stroke?
TLDR: With Meta behind it there’s a fair chance that Threads will work
“Almost every influencer, whether they like it or not, or whether they want Threads to succeed or fail, will be hopping on Threads just in case it does succeed,” he said.”There is potentially a small advantage or a large advantage to being an early adopter of Threads – you certainly will have less people in the Threads ecosystem, so maybe you can get more followers quicker or something like that.”
BBC News Instagram’s Threads: ‘Almost every influencer will be hopping on it’
TLDR: Twitter is now so awful Threads now has a chance
“They’ve definitely got a fighting chance if all of their protections for communities and individuals are firmly in place,” says Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Australia. “If Threads can displace Twitter’s current toxicity, it may well steal Musk’s crown.”
Wired How Threads Could Kill Twitter
TLDR: If you think Threads will be a discord-free Nirvana think again
“Instagram and now Threads are obsessively designed to shuffle normal users together with brands, encouraging commercial activity at every turn. And while the lofty notion of a virtual public square or town hall is evoked often by social media execs to further the agenda of the day, public squares aren’t just the domain of trade and commerce. Historically, they’re also the heart of culture and a place for political discourse — itself a pesky and unavoidable side effect of existing within a society.”
Techcrunch Meta’s vision for Threads is more mega-mall than public square
TLDR: Threads will navigate towards entertainment not news
“The Facebook and Instagram owner also has been actively embracing an algorithmic approach to serving up content, which gives it greater control over the type of fare that does well as it tries to steer more toward entertainment and away from news.”
Reuters Meta’s ‘friendly’ Threads collides with unfriendly internet
TLDR: Just because it’s new doesn’t mean its good
“There is an adjustment period as a culture confronts and psychologically adapts to new media and technology, and it’s longer than we realise. This last 24 hours of staring at my phone asking “what am I doing this for?” has me thinking that for all the sassy talk about “digital natives” and the “extremely online”, we are still so in awe of what the internet can do we outsize our deference to it – the way we once dipped our heads before thunder, believing the rumbles came from Thor.”
The Guardian: The launch of Meta’s Threads proves yet again we are too much in awe of the internet
TLDR: Washington knows that Twitter is screwed but is keeping a watching brief on Threads.
“Although Threads has caught the attention of the White House, it’s not clear yet if the West Wing views it as a worthwhile investment. It takes time and resources to set up new official social media accounts and build the same followings that the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse Twitter handles currently have.”
Politico To thread or not to thread