Instagram’s new Twitter competitor, Threads, is off to a rocket start. Mark Zuckerberg announced 30 million activated profiles, while internal data shows over 95 million posts and 190 million likes in less than one day,

  • needtoknowbasisonly
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    82 years ago

    Another article is claiming it’s up to 44 million…

    "Instagram could be a primary driver of Threads’ adoption. This is due to a badge assigned underneath your Instagram profile picture with a number. This number denotes your user number on Threads. These are thought to be chronological, with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg holding the coveted “1” badge.

    Dexerto has observed that the user numbers have now surpassed 44 million at the time of writing, and it’s likely that as more regions find that the app has launched, this number will continue to rise."

  • LousyCornMuffins
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    52 years ago

    B̷̞̆o̶͙̎t̴͓̀s̷̻͝ ̶͈̓f̶̟͛o̴̢͋r̷͉̆ ̵͇̕t̴̥̄ȟ̸͍ė̴̻ ̵̱̈B̶̝͘ò̸̠t̶̽ͅ ̷̧͑Ǧ̴͉o̴̦̎d̸̮͊

  • dekatron
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    52 years ago

    First it’s the number of sign ups, then it’s the posts and likes, then it’s the number of eyeballs grabbed and the ad revenue. This kind of metric chasing that these platforms encourage is one of the reasons why they become so toxic.

  • muftiboy
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    52 years ago

    it’s millions of bot posts. and I’m sure Fuckerberg appreciates y’all spreading his pathetic PR for free and upvoting this shit

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      I don’t think it’s millions of bots, unless you are using that term derogatorily like some use “NPC.”

      The media are pushing Threads with every fiber of their being. Tech-adjacent sites like TheVerge are absolutely unuseable right now because like 9/10 stories on their page are about how great Threads is and everyone should go to Threads and “hey, follow me on Threads.”

      People need to acknowledge modern journalists/reporters/staff writers for what they are: influencers. That’s why they love Twitter. That’s why they love Threads. That’s why they demand corpo algorithms to boost their content and force it upon other people.

      And that’s why they repeat a lie about the fediverse so insistently: that it is hard to get into. It is so hard to pick one of the top 2 largest sites and give them a username, password, and sometimes an email address. Journalists/writers generally don’t like Mastodon because it doesn’t force anything onto users. That means they have to organically earn a following.

      But Meta will just give it to them by forcing users to see their posts.

    • massive_bereavement
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      22 years ago

      I hardly believe anyone here will be jumping ship, after all if you’re here, you’re not looking for masses…

      • BraveSirZaphod
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        22 years ago

        Eh, they serve pretty different niches. I joined it, and while it’s quite a lot of fun, it’s much worse for having more earnest and in-depth conversations. Reddit-style platforms really don’t have anything to worry about from it.

      • TwilightVulpine
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        12 years ago

        A lot of people aren’t for or against “the masses”, but rather there are specific people, communities and topics that they want to follow, and they may follow them wherever they thrive.

        Personally I’m not too convinced by this idea that “Lemmy is better because there aren’t so many people in it”. I look forward for it and Mastodon to grow. I’d rather if Meta doesn’t get to be the main replacement for Twitter, but if there’s where all the people I want to follow go, then I guess I’ll have to go there too. At least the Fediverse integration might serve as a middle ground so people can follow Threads users without being beholden to Meta.

  • @[email protected]
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    1222 years ago
    1. Everyone move to Threads

    2. Elon is forced to sell Twitter for $50k

    3. Everyone leave Threads and go back to Twitter

  • @[email protected]
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    272 years ago

    I’ve only kept my Twitter because for some reason Britney Spears follows me. I would have gotten rid of it a long time ago before now. I have no interest in Threads. If people like it, great, it’s just not for me.

    • Briongloid
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      2 years ago

      The former Prime Minister of my country follows me on twitter as well

      Edit: also an actor from Scrubs, but not one of the main ones

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        It’s so strange when a recognised public figure follows you. Personally, I feel almost estranged from it - it’s not the kind of life I live so it’s bizarre that it happened (even though I doubt Britney would ever see any of my Tweets anyways, as she follows ~350,000 people).

    • BraveSirZaphod
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      32 years ago

      If people like it, great, it’s just not for me.

      I’ve gotta say, it’s very refreshing to see this attitude, since the main attitude I’ve seen here is “This is popular with normies who listen to bad music and like dumb celebrities, therefore it’s bad and terrible and I hate it!”

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        A few months ago, I moved myself onto a “live and let live” outlook on life. If people like things I don’t, good for them; I’m glad they can find enjoyment in what I can’t - it’s what keeps life interesting. I did once fall into the “x is better than y” and “popular = bad” pit, but using all your energy saying about how y is bad and x is good is just a waste of time when you could just be doing x instead and enjoying yourself.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        I’ve not Tweeted in about 6 years, and have never Tweeted about her, or to her. I actually thought it would be a fake account when I saw “Britney Spears wants to follow you”, but to my genuine surprise it was actually her official account.

  • @[email protected]
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    32 years ago

    What are usual numbers on Facebook and Instagram? These numbers sound extremely high. Is the app being heavily talked about in your circles?

    • jorge
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      32 years ago

      Instagram has 2 billion active users. So only 1.5% of users have activated Threads.

      These numbers aren’t extremely high, we just don’t realize the scale of the world outside our little fedi-bubble.

    • Very_Bad_Janet
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      12 years ago

      IG has 1.2B accounts. So it makes sense they would have millions of Threads accounts created on day one. If Meta gets 1/3 of their IG account holders to create Threads accounts, they will equal Twitter in numbers. Twitter I believe has over 400M accounts.

  • regulatorg
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    222 years ago

    As much as I dislike all the recent twitter changes, this gives Meta even more of a monopoly on social media networks

    • Ashtear
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      2 years ago

      More than half of my personal follows on Twitter are enthusiastically jumping over. I don’t spend a lot of time on Twitter these days, so maybe I hadn’t realized it was bad enough to send people running happily into the arms of Meta.

      • StuccoTheBort
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        22 years ago

        It’s slowly breaking on a technical level. Not as fast as some people predicted, but it’s obvious to everyone now.

  • Nero
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    2 years ago

    It’s not sign ups “activated profiles”. It’s people using their same insta account to use Threads.

    • BraveSirZaphod
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      22 years ago

      That is literally how you sign up to use Threads, so I’m not sure this is a meaningful distinction.

      The low barrier to entry was a very clever idea on their part.

      • Nero
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        -22 years ago

        It’s very much a distinction. It’s deceitful to claim there’s “millions of users who signed up/activated” It’s implying or coyly trying to say these are new accounts, especially to people who are on the outside and don’t know. Better to just say, “Millions went back to Instagram to activate their Threads account.”

  • @[email protected]
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    252 years ago

    See, this is why capitalism trends toward monopolies.

    A small developer could create the exact same app down to the semicolon, but wouldn’t get even a quarter of the traffic on release.

    But because it’s Meta (and somehow despite their awful record of privacy violations), the app gets over 30 million signups.

    The internet is controlled by 4 companies and there’s nothing we can do about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 years ago

      Except it is nowhere near a monopoly in the social media space. There are so many general options, and specific forums for topics, etc. That’s not even to mention the fact that just because something doesn’t provide the exact same service doesn’t mean it’s not a competitor. In person communication, VoIP, etc are also competitors to social media.

    • TwilightVulpine
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      52 years ago

      Unfortunately that is the power of marketing, an already established user base and a low barrier of entry. People who have Instagram accounts already have a Threads account, and people who have a Facebook account already have an Instagram account. It’s much easier to get them to try than it is to get people to sign up for any Fediverse instance.

      I just hope that once it opens to the Fediverse, people who are already there can feel more comfortable to make the leap and drop Meta. Because Meta is not going to let the users drive the experience anyway.

  • @[email protected]
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    32 years ago

    People are annoyed at the changes and decrease in content quality. It makes Instagram in a healthy market to destroy Twitter.

    • Nero
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      2 years ago

      Lol no, especially with all of the censorship it has

      • pjhenry1216
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        102 years ago

        Pretending Twitter is a bastion of free speech is laughable. Twitter is full of censorship. And it’s the kind that appeals only to a certain demographic.

        • PupBiru
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          12 years ago

          i don’t think the comment was implying that it was a bastion of free speech, but when you compare twitter and meta platforms, twitter definitely has the edge in a lot of communities, especially sex-positive ones

          • pjhenry1216
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            82 years ago

            It absolutely does not have an edge. You can’t even use the term “cis” without getting banned. I can’t imagine that being a plus for sex positive communities where that kind of information is extremely important.

            • PupBiru
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              12 years ago

              sex positive is not the same as queer friendly

              you can’t post nipples on instagram, you can’t post even a hint of a bare ass in a jockstrap on instagram… you can post fisting and ws videos on twitter

              you’re right, edge isn’t apt: there’s no comparison between the 2 platforms for sex positive communities

              • pjhenry1216
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                32 years ago

                If they exclude entire demographics, it’s by definition not friendly nor positive.

                • PupBiru
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                  12 years ago

                  that’s just entirely untrue… certain parts of it are be, i totally agree: twitter as a whole is a shit show

                  … however, it’s just misleading to say that “it absolutely does not have an edge ”

                  but sex positivity is just not a thing you can express on meta platforms… i say this as someone who uses social media entirely for fetish and kink content: these are my communities and how i choose to express myself and live my life… i am not welcomed on meta, twitter is a place i can exist

                  (bear in mind as well that the extreme toxicity of most of twitter doesn’t tend to spill over into those communities)

  • Dr. Moose
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    2 years ago

    Like millions of others I went to check it out because the startup of a new social network is exciting.

    It sucks. Mostly because of Instagram migration all of the spam and grift is there on day 1.

    There’s also this fake “positivity” vibe that they’re trying to promote that is so fake and shallow with literally zero backup how would it be encouraged or grown despite “be positive” sort of sham messages.

    Major disappointment. It literally does nothing new.

      • BraveSirZaphod
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        32 years ago

        Or…

        It is actually fairly popular. I’m sure there are more than a few bots, but a pretty huge chunk of people I actually know have been active on it.

    • Phanatik
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      72 years ago

      Yeah that fake positivity came from Instagram. It’s like staring at an alternate reality.