Washington / Miami, USA — Threads, the new micromessaging app from Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, has hit the social media scene with a bang. In less than 24 hours since its debut, some 30 million users had joined the platform that would seek to dethrone Twitter. Twinned with Instagram -both under the umbrella of Meta-, Threads seems to be the answer to Internet users disenchanted with the management of Elon Musk at the head of what is still considered the most important “public square” on the Internet. But could the newcomer become a real contender and survive the initial enthusiasm of users in the long run? Users and analysts still avoid being categorical, but point out that the appearance of Threads, just when Twitter has announced restrictions, could play in their favor. “Meta is the world’s leading expert on social media technology and sociology and has pioneered a variety of digital advertising… Early numbers suggest Threads could easily have more daily active users than Twitter by the end of the year,” he told La Voz. of America Arun Sundararajan, professor of technology at the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. What is Threads? After initial complications, Threads (Hebras or Threads in Spanish) was finally available on Wednesday night. Promoted as the text version of Instagram, the visual app par excellence, it allows you to publish original texts and photos, reply to other posts, and share content. Since its launch, it is now available in more than a hundred countries. Users from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, India and Japan have already been able to interact and publish on the platform, after downloading it to their Apple and Android devices. Meanwhile, nationals of Russia, Iran, North Korea and China will not be able to access it, due to rules imposed by their governments. At the moment, the app is also not accessible in the European Union, which maintains strict online privacy rules. “Let’s do it. Welcome to Threads,” published Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta, which also includes WhatsApp and accumulates 3,000 million users through all its services. Less than a day after the launch, Zuckerberg reported that 30 million of users were already using the platform. In five days, the new micro-stories app has already accumulated more than 100 million registrations, the tycoon himself revealed this Monday. This new record surpassed that of ChatGPT as the fastest online platform to reach this milestone. Celebrities such as Colombian singer Shakira, famous American presenter Oprah and YouTuber Mr Beast were among the first to enter the platform. Corporate and media accounts also wasted no time in getting on board of the new trend. A copy of Twitter Although they seem very similar, Threads has notable differences with its “rival.” Among what they share is a very similar user interface. Both are text-based conversation platforms, where the user can like, reply, and republish. You can also post photos and videos of up to five minutes. “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand it into text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” explains one. publication on the official Meta site. Zuckerberg joined the conversation with a joking tweet – the third time he’s posted to the microblogging network – in which he posts the well-known meme of the Spider-Men pointing at each other. Both apps also differ in several key aspects. To begin with, instead of tweets or tweets, people publish threads – still without an official equivalent in Spanish – with a capacity of 500 characters compared to 280 on Twitter, and retweets are reposts. With Threads, users don’t have the option to start from scratch because so far they can only access by linking their Instagram profiles, which on the other hand allows them to maintain their circle of friends and continue to follow their favorite content creators. “If you have an active community on Instagram, in this new application you will already have a well-established part of that community and you don’t have to start from scratch. That is among the good things that I see in it and for what I think it can compete against Twitter,” Mei, a Cuban content creator who advises entrepreneurs on how to get the most out of the networks, told VOA. The content marketing specialist also points out as an advantage that the publication of the photos in reel mode, as on Instagram, raises the publications and gives them more visuality. On the contrary, she mentions, that one of the possible disadvantages is that since Threads is an extension of Instagram, if you want to delete your account in the future, you will also have to delete your account on the primary social network, at least for now. “I have not seen that gifs can be uploaded and I have not seen the option to download photos or videos from users, but that is surely something that its developers will work on,” added Mei, who accumulates some 11,500 followers on her mei_marketingd account in Instagram. The new service does not have the direct messaging service that Twitter does have, although according to Zuckerberg, more elements will be added to the app. Another of the big differences, which could work against Threads, is the absence of the list of popular topics and hashtags, which still puts the little blue bird ahead as a destination for news and trends. At least for now. Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk Threads’ appearance coincides with the growing rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, who became the official owner of Twitter in a high-profile deal last year. The changes that the South African billionaire has brought to the platform, including the introduction of a paid subscription, the removal of verified accounts for unsubscribed users and the limit of daily tweet readings, have not gone down well with a large number of users. Twitter loyalists, who have questioned their permanence in an app where hate speech and intolerance are increasingly common. “We’re definitely focusing on friendliness and making this a friendly place,” Zuckerberg said. This is something that Mei also highlighted. “Until now, at least I have not experienced any type of hate, what is said in the comments is healthy,” acknowledged the specialist and creator. For now, Threads is free and it looks like it will stay that way. It also has no advertising at the moment. Recently, there have been reports of clashes between the two tycoons, who have even come together for a physical fight, which many believe will not leave cyberspace. In the legal space, the two giants are almost certain to engage in a battle that experts predict has only just begun. Shortly after the launch of Threads, Twitter reported that Meta stole its trade secrets to build the new micro-messaging site, hiring employees fired by Musk. This could be the first round of a legal battle, although according to Reuters reports, Twitter would have to overcome major hurdles if it files a lawsuit, which has not yet been filed. In a letter sent Wednesday, the same day the new app was launched, Twitter said Meta had hired dozens of its former employees, many of whom “improperly withheld” proprietary information from the firm. More specifically, he claimed that Meta “deliberately” assigned these former employees to work at Threads. A Twitter spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Meta spokesman Andy Stone said a day later that no one on Threads’ engineering team is a former Twitter employee. A “potential” yet to be exploited With his arrival, Threads became the “most important threat to Twitter”, agreed experts, who attributed to the bad practices of administration of the platform by Elon Musk, as one of the main reasons why users might find a better pastime on Threads. “Threads has the potential to become the successor to Twitter. Elon Musk has been mistreating his loyal customers perhaps too much, so there isn’t much loyalty left,” Peter Gloor, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Collective Intelligence, told VOA. Although Threads still lacks important functionality, the MIT researcher explained that services like direct messaging “are not that demanding to operate, and Meta has a lot of experience running them, so technically Meta should be very capable of running it. reasonably no problem.” As for the number of signups, Arun Sundararajan called for consideration that after nearly 20 years, Twitter has fewer than 200 million daily active users, compared to the 30 million who downloaded Threads in a single day when it launched. “Meta should also focus on attracting and retaining some key Twitter influencer communities, such as journalists, venture capitalists, and tech entrepreneurs…In addition, it’s critical to make sure Threads users feel safe without feeling censored,” added the NYU professor. . So then, to serve as an alternative “Threads doesn’t have to reinvent social media or come up with innovative new features. All you have to do is provide a stable, reliable, and secure application.” For other experts such as Susie Alegre, British lawyer and technology expert, “Threads does not seem to have the immediacy or relevance that made Twitter popular”, however, “as Twitter has become increasingly unstable in the last year, well it can serve as a replacement, even if it doesn’t do the same job.” Alegre highlighted to VOA that Meta has refrained from launching Threads in the European Union, which could be signaling “that they expect regulatory hurdles down the road that could be a serious problem.” “So far, in addition to representing a threat to Twitter, it is not clear what news it brings to the social media landscape. How it plays out will depend partly on Meta and partly on its users, and whether or not they decide to stick around,” she opined. Connect with the ! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
READ MORE WAB NEWS
