No doubt Spark will be pretty keen to move to Threads, after their debacle on Twitter last week. After all, they won’t have to worry about a public backlash to the misogynist bigotry of their employees in a space where no one will even see it.
The great terror of any business or public figure on Twitter is “going viral” for all the wrong reasons. Just ask Bud Light.
But on Threads, no one can hear you gaslight.
There was a curious exchange on Meta Platforms new Threads app recently — curious in that there wasn’t really an exchange at all. An angry American Airlines passenger posted a message asking the airline why their flight had been canceled — and nothing happened.
It spoke to the crucial difference between Threads and the site it might replace, Twitter. The same complaint over on Elon Musk’s app probably would have seen the airline’s customer service operation spring into action, replying to the user in fear that shoddy treatment would first be seen by dozens, then hundreds, and then maybe thousands.
The risk of going viral on Twitter — for the wrong reasons — is what kept many companies, politicians and other prominent entities in check. This proximity to power made Twitter a breakthrough. It brought both positive and negative consequences.
As Spark, Bud Light, and many more have learned the hard way.
But if Twitter is a kind of cross between The Hunger Games and A Silent Place, Threads is The Lego Movie.
On Threads, everything is awesome. Flights don’t get delayed. Food deliveries don’t go missing. Politicians don’t get dunked on for incendiary takes and journalists don’t opine on every detail of uncomfortable breaking news. Instead, faceless brands trade hilarious “jokes” with each other while influencers broadcast crucial wisdom like “be true to yourself.” Thoroughly boring stuff; the live-laugh-love of social networks […]
Meta so far has purposefully designed Threads to be a place ignorant of life’s complications. With 100 million users as of July 10, the strategy seems to be paying off for the moment.
As we know, though, many of 100 million users were auto-added from their Instagram accounts. Worse, they don’t dare leave, because they will be forced to delete their existing Instagram account in order to do so.
But many of those who have joined are scrolling through their feeds and thinking: Who are these people? And why are they talking such drivel?
And will anybody bother listening?
We’re barely a week or so in and already analysts are talking about Threads one day generating upward of $8 billion per year in additional revenue for Meta if it can reach a consistent 200 million monthly active users.
For that value to materialize, however, engagement will need to be high — high enough to attract the wads of advertising that powers social sites. It’s no good for Threads to be an app people download and then check occasionally […]
It won’t get there if it continues to shut out the real world […]
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has created a safe space, alright.
Japan Times
And, as the left is belatedly discovering, enforced safety is mind-numbing and stultifying. It’s certainly not a patch on dangerous freedom.