Just two weeks later, the new car already smells like vanishing from Meta’s latest Threads app.
According to data analytics firm Similarweb, the total number of people swiping, tapping and posting on Threads on a daily basis (mostly via Android in these particular metrics), dropped from 49 million during the first week to 23.6 million near the start of the second week.
The time people spend on the app is also decreasing, dropping less than a third from the first week, from 21 minutes on July 7 to just over six minutes on July 14.
This is no surprise. The public today is fickle. We’re all for the latest, greatest, shiniest piece of tech in this case, the so-called Twitter-killer, but we also have notoriously short attention spans.
When I posted about needing to go to sleep instead of getting sucked into more hours on Threads, my Gen Z friend Maya replied: This was me the early days. Now the novelty is gone.
The app was only five days old at that point.
So what now? How do the powers that be prevent Thread from going the way of Google+ or even BeReal?
How many users are on Threads?
Downloads of the New Thread app passed the 150 million mark in less than two weeks, which is still well beyond its initial record pace.
What are the problems with threads?
For starters, it’s only been two weeks. Give it a warm minute to acclimate.
For those old enough to remember the early days of Twitter, Threads is already light years ahead.
The good parts must remain good; it’s clean, healthy, and relatively ad-free. The posts and comments somehow manage to stay positive, even when people disagree. This is a breath of fresh air, for sure.
That said, the Metas Threads team needs to focus on an edit button, browser version, history, and next feed. They need to do it this week or next to keep more people from dropping like flies.
They also need to make bold moves: let people choose whether to see ads (perhaps with a subscription service like Netflix or Hulu). Spending a lot of money to protect our privacy by providing consistent and clear content moderation and putting up barriers against abuse and misinformation.
Remember, Threads launched as an essential 1.0 beta. So far, it works as a quick proof of concept that people want a safe and sane place for intelligent text-based public conversations.
We were watching this app being built in real time, and the people responsible, like Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at least seem to care about our feedback. This is rare and it was quite refreshing. If you go to one of their Thread accounts and browse through their replies, it seems like they are listening to us and replying and making important changes.
Meta just rolled out the first of many updates, including a translate button, a tab on your activity feed to show who’s following you, and the option to subscribe and get notifications from accounts you don’t follow. (If these new features haven’t yet appeared in your Thread feed, give it one more day or close the app and reopen it.)
Does Threads have a browser version?
No. You can’t actively use Threads on your desktop or laptop, and that’s a big deal. It’s another one of those features that Threads is working on, but it needs to be a top priority.
Millions of us can’t type as fast or as well from our smartphones. This is one of the reasons I’ve never used Instagram as much as Facebook or Twitter. People like me are among the masses who speak through a keyboard. If you want more of my attention and general engagement, get on my laptop.
Don’t overlook this simple fact either; it’s easier to scroll through social media when you pretend you’re working in a browser.
There is a way to get Threads on Windows and other workarounds, but they’ll never be mainstream because they’re too difficult for non-techies.
How does Threads compare to Twitter?
Threads is outperforming Twitter on several fronts, no matter what message its gun-toting owner Elon Musk tweets about it.
As spammers flock to Threads, Mosseri posted that they are cracking down and that people may be impacted by speed limits.
People on Twitter, including Musk himself, have been quick with sarcastic comments as Musk also instituted speed limits earlier this month.
But they are not the same. Musk has limited the number of tweets you can see in a day. His seemingly instinctive change prevented many people on Twitter from seeing content on the platform after just 10 minutes. This led to some of the massive backlash that brought people to Threads in its early days.
Threads is doing what most social media platforms, including Twitter, have been doing for a long time to target spam. The site may limit the number of comments you can make quickly and the people you can follow in a certain period of time to thwart trolls and thieves.
Does Threads have a newsfeed?
People migrated en masse to Threads to replace what used to be the gold standard for live news.
Pre-Elon Twitter and pre-Donald Trump Twitter were my favorite places to follow breaking news and find credible sources for stories like this.
Mosseri has, thus far, shunned the news, saying Threads won’t encourage politics or tough news due to scrutiny, negativity and integrity risks.
This is a mistake. The masses miss and want to see verified and vetted news evolve online beyond the current Twitter cesspool spiral.
For Threads to wipe out Twitter, it needs to tackle the news with the world’s best content moderation ever, ban polarizing public figures who spread dangerous misinformation, and make everyone who uses the app agree to a few basic rules of engagement.
Right now, Instagram celebrities, brands, and influencers dominate my Thread feed. I want to type in a quick hashtag and see what the brightest minds are saying about an issue or story I care about most. I want a way to reach the people I need to interview (DM).
And I want the latest news here. i need it here. Otherwise, I can’t get rid of Twitter (yet).
A few summers ago, a huge back fire destroyed three of our neighbors’ homes as flames licked our fence and back garage. Our friends were scared that we were stuck inside as calls started pouring into our cell phones.
We were on vacation in Alaska at the time, and other than several people telling us our house was about to burn down, there was no other way to get information.
I went on Twitter, typed in my city and street name, and watched it all unfold from the morning news helicopters circling above me. I watched the firefighters fend off the flames from my backyard and save our home. I was able to get help for several neighbors in real time all from one app.
This is a valid service. We need it.
Threads is monitoring you:Threads knows a lot about you. Because Apple iPhones have less data control than Androids
How can Threads engage people?
Threads also need to be about more than just Twitter. They need to take a rest with the snooze-fest marketing talk about comparisons and embrace it.
The goal is to create a public marketplace for communities on Instagram that have never really embraced Twitter, and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, Mosseri wrote on Threads in the first week after launch.
Make no mistake; this is not a public square. It is a profit-making business.
Advertisers are ready to spend on threads the moment Meta lets them in. But we don’t like the lack of control that occurs when big tech algorithms start reading our minds to sell us more stuff or make it nearly impossible to turn off our phones. And especially? We hate it when our children are dragged into it too.
Here is the meta opportunity for Meta and for Zuck, said author and NYU Professor Scott Galloway on his July 13 podcast The Prof G Pod. For the first time in ten years, you’re truly seen as the good guy. Lean into that. Age gate on some of your platforms. There’s no reason a 14-year-old girl should be on Instagram. It gets much stricter about content, medical information, and elections. Take a break 90 days before the 2024 election [sic] This is your opportunity [Mark Zuckerberg]are you Darth Vader or are you Anakin?
The bottom line? Why didn’t the product and the consumer ask for better in all respects? It’s impossible to make Threads perfect for all of us, but it’s entirely doable for thinking beyond the Silicon Valley silo and doing good for the world at large.
Jennifer Jollyis an Emmy Award-winning consumer technology columnist. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.
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