Threads has been online for a week, and I have been playing with it for a week. Let me share my personal feelings.
Threads and Twitter#
Previously, I mentioned some pain points of Threads in a lengthy post, so I won't repeat them here. Since Threads claimed to be a Twitter killer from the beginning, let's compare some of their features.
| Feature | Threads | |
|---|---|---|
| Translation function | Yes | No |
| Only see followed | Yes | No |
| Save images | Yes | No |
| NSFW content | Yes | Yes |
| Hashtag function | Yes | No |
| Web version | Yes | No |
| Ads | Yes | No |
Are there any outstanding features? I don't think so. At most, there are currently no ads, and the interface is clean.
Information feed recommendation#
These are the comparisons based on basic features. It has been a week, and Threads has only released one update without adding any new features. This is not the most disappointing part for me. The most disappointing part is its homepage recommendations and discussion atmosphere.
I have seen people complaining on Threads more than once: why does Threads always recommend me content that I have seen repeatedly? Every now and then, the same information will reappear in the homepage feed. What's even more outrageous is that today I saw a netizen complaining about being recommended pictures of naked men on the homepage from time to time. As an app that has been online for more than a week, from a well-established social networking company, it is unbelievable that such a problem has not been resolved.
If it was Meta's first attempt at social media, it would be understandable, but they already have Facebook and Instagram, two very mature social networks. I believe their team is capable of creating a good social platform. However, the recommendations in the Threads homepage feed are just disappointing.
Discussion atmosphere#
Threads relies on the Instagram app for registration and usage, which means that this platform is initially more about sharing daily life, where everyone shares fragments of their lives. Various official accounts also play around on Threads, seeking fun. Others can only like and leave comments like "very good" or "not bad" to show their appreciation.
Although Threads claims to be a Twitter killer, the relevant person in charge at Meta has already stated that they do not encourage users to post politics or hard news. Currently, Meta is turning a blind eye to this, but strict management is likely to be implemented in the future. I have learned that many Taiwanese people are using Instagram, so many Taiwanese friends have joined Threads. However, they told me that they still rely on Facebook as their main source of information. Firstly, because there are many news media accounts on Facebook, and they are used to this way of obtaining news. Secondly, many people will discuss a piece of news on Facebook, even if they haven't searched for related news, Facebook's algorithm will recommend it to them. Obviously, Threads' discouragement of political and hard news cannot meet their needs, so they naturally transfer their discussion needs to other platforms.
The proportion of programmers on Threads is not high. At least in my homepage feed, I hardly see any posts from programmers. Even if there are, it's just sharing content like this.
I don't have any objections to such posts, but the interactivity of these posts is very low, whether it's on Threads or on Twitter.
On Twitter, I have always felt that programmers have contributed a lot to the discussions. They often discuss products, services, and life reflections. Although I have seen some famous bloggers on Twitter also open Threads accounts, most of their posts are from a few days ago, indicating that Threads currently doesn't have much appeal to them.
On one hand, restricting certain topics on the platform will inevitably reduce the activity of some users. On the other hand, the current user composition is relatively homogeneous, and everyone feels a bit self-entertaining, without contributing many interesting topics.
Speculating the future#
Meta has already canceled the numbering of Threads for users, and it is unclear when it will be available to EU users. At the same time, according to Google Trends, the popularity index of Threads is rapidly declining.
I think the best outcome for Threads is to become a text platform similar to Xiaohongshu, where everyone can share their daily lives and where some artist accounts can publish updates. The worst outcome is that this platform quickly loses users and becomes short-lived.
To be honest, I am now very skeptical about Mark Zuckerberg's level of attention to this product, and I even feel that his attitude towards this product is very indifferent. I don't know if their entire product team is confused or if they have already started to slack off. When Threads was launched, I went there with the mentality of a Twitter refugee, thinking that finally there was a platform where I could escape from Twitter and where everyone could gather to share and discuss. But from what I have seen so far, reality is far from my imagination.