In response to Twitter’s most recent spectacular failure to reinvent and realign how the app primarily functions, Facebook parent company Meta has launched their own Twitter alternative site. It’s called Threads, and the goal is to become the main app for public conversations in the world.
As founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the new app:
“There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion-plus people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”
Elon Musk Has Rendered Twitter Unusable More Than Once, and Users Have Had Enough
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Twitter was the world’s leading conversation-based app until about a year ago, when billionaire Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion. He quickly began making changes, including unceremoniously firing half of the staff (in a manner which brought on more than one lawsuit), and turning the famous Blue Check from something that denoted a verified celebrity or public figure to an $8 pass that grants full access to what used to be the site’s normal features.
Users have been increasingly unsatisfied with the way Twitter has been running over the last year, and they have been leaving in droves. However, the most recent change was the worst.
Musk attempted to install a feature that limits how many posts users could see a day: 600 for unverified (unpaid) users (half that for new users), and 6000 for verified users. The installation of this “feature” backfired tremendously, essentially causing the site to endlessly chase its tail looking for posts it couldn’t get, rendering it virtually unusable for most accounts.
This was the final straw for many users already on the fence, who quickly began looking for new alternatives for online conversation and community.
Meta saw this demand and responded with Threads, a new app that connects to users’ already-existing Instagram profiles to import friends and contacts. On the new app, denoted by an icon that looks like an @ symbol, posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, images, and videos of up to 5 minutes.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino Isn’t Concerned About Threads – But She Should Be
Because of the easy integration with Instagram, Threads received over 30 million sign-ups in its first day – but Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, who was put in place after Elon Musk famously ran a poll asking the Twitter population if he should step down, appeared unphased. In an obvious subtweet at the new Meta platform, the new executive said:
“On Twitter, everyone’s voice matters. Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others — on Twitter YOU can be real. YOU built the Twitter community. And that’s irreplaceable. This is your public square. We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.”
On Twitter, everyone's voice matters.
Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others — on Twitter YOU can be real.
YOU built the Twitter community. 🙏👏 And that's irreplaceable. This…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 6, 2023
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There is some truth to what she is saying – some users who tried the transfer only to return to Twitter have complained that the community there is simply not the same. User Rob Sheridan complained:
As someone with a decent following here & on IG, I can tell you that generally speaking, the bulk of the crowd on Meta platforms is, well, less sophisticated than the general Twitter crowd, and WAY less informed. It’s why I don’t do politics much on IG, it’s just a bummer. So…
If you have a Twitter-esque app that builds its base not organically but by auto-porting IG/FB users, the vibe and discourse there is going to be… not what Twitter was. It is, very likely, going to be awful. You can mimic features, but you can’t force a culture.
If you have a Twitter-esque app that builds its base not organically but by auto-porting IG/FB users, the vibe and discourse there is going to be… not what Twitter was. It is, very likely, going to be awful. You can mimic features, but you can't force a culture.
— Rob Sheridan (@rob_sheridan) July 6, 2023
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Sheridan’s point echoes those of many other users who have been trying to find an alternative to Twitter and failing: You cannot simply replace a community, and any social media website is going to become a community over time. Anyone who’s spent long enough online knows this: Facebook is where you act like your mom is watching you (because she is). Twitter is where you talk with your peers and promote your stuff. Tumblr is for being unhinged. Et cetera.
The population of Instagram and the population of Twitter are just different, because they’re for different things. Yaccarino is right when she says that community will be difficult to replace, and that no “Twitter Killer” app is going to be able to do get the job done.
(It is rather undercutting of her point that Twitter is now threatening to sue Meta over Threads.)
However, the real reason that Threads isn’t going to end up being the Twitter Killer is that Elon Musk is already performing that role from the inside.
Twitter Is No Longer Our Public Square
We’ve found the twitter killer, and he’s murdering it from inside the house. pic.twitter.com/9F3w03fSOx
— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) July 6, 2023
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In the year since he has bought it, Elon Musk has decimated what Twitter once was. What Yaccarino said about Twitter being a “public square” that “YOU built” may have been true then, but it’s not true anymore – public squares aren’t supposed to charge an $8 entry fee to let you speak in the part of the square where others can hear you, as it kind of defeats the purpose.
Public squares also don’t throw people out after they’ve heard a certain number of people make announcements in a given day. It’s a little hard to “watch history unfold” or “discover REAL-TIME information” when your account, as well as the accounts of those who would be sharing that info, are being rate limited.
Linda Yaccarino is right: Twitter’s users did build the community, and that is irreplacable. Unfortunately, it’s a community that Elon Musk is still actively working to destroy. It won’t be replaced, but if Musk continues to make asinine business decisions that actively destroy the community they built, the population will scatter to other apps for refuge.
What do you think of the new Threads app? Could it compare to Twitter? Let us know what you think in the comments below – we won’t rate limit you.