I am not so sure that "hide for everyone" is an unvarnished good.
There was always the flip side to the sea lion cartoon. What if the happy couple are discussing how vaccination against COVID is bad.
Do we really want social media tools that help people build silos, where there is no dissent .. to the idea that everyone should take ivermectin instead?
Hey Charles, fascinating read on Threads and its journey! I'm intrigued by the approach Meta is taking to address moderation with "Hide for everyone." Looking forward to seeing how this unique platform evolves and disrupts the social media landscape. 👍
I’m not entirely sure that the algorithmic timeline was the main complaint with Threads; it was a vocal one for sure. But it felt like the main issue with Threads was that the first thing you saw when you logged in was Brands Talking To Brands.
Instagram (obviously) isn’t Twitter; the voices and community on each are different. A creative visual influencer isn’t going to automatically create witty text posts; seeing a timeline full of brands and influencers posting engagement bait (“HOW Y’ALL DOIN TODAY??”) is the biggest turnoff for me on Threads and something I’ve heard echoed elsewhere.
And the thing is: that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. Zuck has commented on Twitter hitting a ceiling of users and how he wants to break through; Mosseri downplayed news on the platform, which is one of Twitter’s big strengths. (Well, was, anyway.) It’s not hard to imagine that they see this as a way to catapult a Twitter-like service into the billion user club, because this sort of bland engagement seems to work just fine for the billion+ users of IG.
Ultimately this brings us to the real question here: how do we judge success for Threads? Is it to be on the path to a billion users? Or is it to be a perfect replacement for Twitter? Obviously it’s the former. But we all want so bad for it to be the latter, even though it was never intended to be.
I’ve sworn off corporate-owned social media. You will not see me cross-posting to Threads, Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else. I’ve been happy with Mastodon, using it exclusively over the last six months, with more annd better interaction than I’ve had on any of the other sites.
I am not so sure that "hide for everyone" is an unvarnished good.
There was always the flip side to the sea lion cartoon. What if the happy couple are discussing how vaccination against COVID is bad.
Do we really want social media tools that help people build silos, where there is no dissent .. to the idea that everyone should take ivermectin instead?
Hey Charles, fascinating read on Threads and its journey! I'm intrigued by the approach Meta is taking to address moderation with "Hide for everyone." Looking forward to seeing how this unique platform evolves and disrupts the social media landscape. 👍
I’m not entirely sure that the algorithmic timeline was the main complaint with Threads; it was a vocal one for sure. But it felt like the main issue with Threads was that the first thing you saw when you logged in was Brands Talking To Brands.
Instagram (obviously) isn’t Twitter; the voices and community on each are different. A creative visual influencer isn’t going to automatically create witty text posts; seeing a timeline full of brands and influencers posting engagement bait (“HOW Y’ALL DOIN TODAY??”) is the biggest turnoff for me on Threads and something I’ve heard echoed elsewhere.
And the thing is: that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. Zuck has commented on Twitter hitting a ceiling of users and how he wants to break through; Mosseri downplayed news on the platform, which is one of Twitter’s big strengths. (Well, was, anyway.) It’s not hard to imagine that they see this as a way to catapult a Twitter-like service into the billion user club, because this sort of bland engagement seems to work just fine for the billion+ users of IG.
Ultimately this brings us to the real question here: how do we judge success for Threads? Is it to be on the path to a billion users? Or is it to be a perfect replacement for Twitter? Obviously it’s the former. But we all want so bad for it to be the latter, even though it was never intended to be.
I’ve sworn off corporate-owned social media. You will not see me cross-posting to Threads, Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else. I’ve been happy with Mastodon, using it exclusively over the last six months, with more annd better interaction than I’ve had on any of the other sites.
PS: Love that there are no ads on Mastodon 🤗