Threads is the fastest-growing social media platform of all time, reaching 100 million users in just five days. The platform was launched by Meta to compete with Twitter after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk and had a precipitous decline in users and quality. While it ties directly into Instagram and is built on the same technology, Threads is intended to be a town square for the internet. But can a town square thrive when it’s filled suddenly with millions of voices and moderated in the same way that made Instagram a place that was friendly for brands and few others?
He replied to me this morning to say exactly that — well, using emoji.
He said on August 4th that the feature would be arriving in “the next few weeks.” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said this week that the web version will be ready “soon” but that it “needs more work.”
Learned this thanks to a Chris Messina post on Threads. On my iPhone, when I have both Threads and the X / Twitter app installed, there’s an option to send a Threads post to X from the paper airplane icon. I guess that’s one way to try and get more people using Threads.
A blog post by analytics firm Similarweb says data from the Android Threads app show the social network has fallen to 10.3 million daily active Android users as of August 7th. That’s down from a July 7th peak of 49.3 million.
Earlier this month, both Gizmodo and CNN cited Similarweb data while reporting the Threads slump. Whether Threads could still go the distance remains to be seen, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is keeping a positive face for investors.
[Similarweb]
-Yaccarino said she has “autonomy” under Elon. “[He] focuses on new technology ... and I’m responsible for the rest.”
-She demurred on the Musk v Zuckerberg fight. “We’ll see if that cage match really does happen.”
-But she said Elon really is training for it. “I’ve had a front row seat of witnessing that.”
-As for Threads, she thinks Meta’s rival is skating to where the puck already is. “They may be building to what Twitter was ... and we’re focused on what X will be.”
It hit me that Twitter is dead, so the word “tweet” is fair game now! It wasn’t even Twitter’s word to begin with. So I have reversed her reversal, editing this just-published post of mine four times to just call them tweets. Zuck tweeted. Mosseri tweeted. I will be tweeting again too, just as soon as Zuck and Mosseri let me tweet from the web!
You’d think Threads would already have DMs support given both Facebook and Instagram have it. But nope, you have to head over to a person’s Instagram account and hope that you can DM each other there.
Speaking to Washington Post Adam Mosseri recognized this is one of just a few features Meta needs to bring to Threads to make the new service last.
Asked what he sees as the key to Threads’ long-term success, Mosseri didn’t offer the sort of big-picture vision he has become known for at Meta. Instead, he pointed to four short-term priorities: helping users build their lists of people to follow, improving the algorithms that decide what users see, giving users a way to see posts only from people they follow, and figuring out how to let people message each other.
[Washington Post]
No surprise, but Adam Mosseri tells Casey Newton web Threads is indeed en route.
We’ve been running a steadily growing list of alternatives for that formerly bird-associated social network, and now that TikTok has added a text-only option, it’s become part of our inventory of 15 social networks vying for your attention. If you’re wondering where to go next, these are some interesting choices.
“You asked, we answered,” Meta wrote in the notes for an iOS update released on Monday. “New features coming, so keep an eye out as you browse the latest version of the app.”
I don’t see any obvious differences in my updated version of the app. But Instagram boss Adam Mosseri teased a “following” feed in a video, so hopefully that’s coming soon. (Meta, I’m also begging you for a way to look at my feeds on the web.)
The WSJ says that daily active users declined 70 percent to 13 million from its peak (Sensor Tower) and average time users spent in apps decreased to four minutes from 19 minutes (SimilarWeb). Meanwhile, Twitter’s daily active users are unchanged at about 200 million and spend an average of 30 minutes a day on Musk’s not-really-free speech hobby (Sensor Tower).
Hey Zuck, how about that feed of just people we follow?
That’s “way ahead” of what the company expected, he said on Threads. As for what’s coming next, the company is working on “improving the basics and retention” this year, and then “we’ll focus on growing the community.”
Threads surpassed 100 million users just days after it launched this month.
That’s because of an increase in “spam attacks,” according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri. I’m guessing these limits won’t affect too many people, though — unlike Twitter’s rate limits.
Lots to discuss this week, but no time to get into it all — we’re on a Chroma-fast. Don’t steal our idea, Goop!
Jack Dorsey — he of the Radiohead posts — has logged on to Threads, it seems. Anyway, a defensive posting 101 lesson for the rest of you: never give your enemies content.
The news broke on Threads v1.
Here’s our explainer if you’re wondering why Meta is so concerned about European access to Threads.
If you want to report a technical issue with the Threads app, all you have to do is give your phone a little shake, and it’ll prompt you to do so, just like the feature Instagram introduced in 2021.
As shown by Instagram boss Adam Mosseri in a 💎 Hidden Gems 💎 thread (I’m just bringing over his emoji usage here), if you tap return three times in a row while composing a Threads post, you can make another post in the thread. I think it’s a really clever feature, and it’s one of my favorite features of the app.
He’s got a few other handy tricks in the full thread, though you can also see them all on video on his Instagram page.
According to Apple’s weekly app rankings, Threads was the most popular free app for the week ending July 9th. That’s not all too surprising, given that Threads has already garnered over 100 million users since launching last week.
He didn’t say specifically what features you can expect imminently, but the team is working on things like “a following feed, the edit button, and post search.”
An edit button you can use for free. Imagine that!
Perhaps reacting to Threads’ 100 million user milestone, Elon Musk tweeted today that “cumulative user-seconds per day of phone screentime... may hit an all-time record this week.” He noted that stat, “as reported by iOS & Android, is hardest to game.”
Anyway, here’s a probably-unrelated video.
According to the @threadsapp account, you’ll see both people you follow and accounts the platform recommends to you. Changes are coming down the line: recommendations will be “more personalized” and yes, the Threads team is working on a chronological feed. Search will get better, too.
That’s not something I thought I’d be typing today, but what else is new? Anas Haqqani, a Taliban leader, tweeted his support of Twitter, saying other competitors can’t replace it (via Vice Motherboard).
He lauds its “freedom of speech,” calling Meta “intolerant.”
Vice quotes Aram Shabanian, an OSINT manager for nonpartisan think tank New Lines Institute, who is surprised the Taliban endorses Twitter:
“Zuckerberg is clearly the Mullah Omar of this situation,” Shabanian said, referring to the founder of the Taliban and previous ruler of Afghanistan. “You may not like him, but at least you know what you’re getting...”
“Unlike going with Musk, who represents a lawless, profit-driven society. Musk is all balls, no shaft, as the ancient Armenian proverb goes.”
