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How the new Threads app is made

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Re: How the new Threads app is made

#111

Post by tayo42 »

enneff wrote: post #76
CaptainFever wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. The vast majority of the world now has access to very high or unlimited data packs. This is hardly the big issue that HackerNews makes it out to be. Source? This seems like a really first-world country thing to say.

Ironically, IME there tend to be fewer data restrictions in developing countries than developed ones.

We really do have expensive internet in the US. Sim cards when traveling are so cheap. I think I have a 4gb plan with Verizon and it's expensive enough for me.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#112

Post by vineyardmike »

hospitalJail wrote: post #12
wbobeirne wrote: post #4

Have there been any public plans for a fully featured web app? Having it be read-only on the web is a non-starter for me.

Facebook isnt going to be nice about this. They know they are in a strong position here. Expect an addicting algorithm that is fueled by ragebait (and if its anything like IG, coombait). The fact that it didn't release with an ability to time-sort tells you everything you need to know. Everyone knows how easy it is to sort by time, especially when stakes are low. Its anti-consumer from day 1. The surge in people are…

> The fact that it didn't release with an ability to time-sort tells you everything you need to know.

They announced its coming.

I’m guessing they just didn’t want anyone to see an empty feed on signup day.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#113

Post by hyperhopper »

yeeetz wrote: post #103
ryandrake wrote: post #96

I'm kind of amazed at how saturated the news is with stories about Threads. And not just tech news, but also every mainstream news site has at least one or more "submarine" marketing articles promoting Threads. Meta Marketing Team: You're not fooling anyone into thinking these are grassroots and viral, but honestly, well done with the media saturation. Meta's clearly got all the right channels on full-blast. It's rea…

Honestly I don't fuck with social media that much besides my private Instagram, but there's more to it than just viral marketing. It's a pretty smooth app that appeals to people like my 18-25-ish age that feels like Twitter has gotten super weird and toxic. The honeymoon effect won't last forever, but it has something that a lot of social media users are looking for.

But why didn't those users just go to mastodon?

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#114

Post by Karrot_Kream »

nicpottier wrote: post #109
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is downright quiet on the topic, with only 21 posts over 20 comments since the launch (2023-07-05), 4 posts per day. Compare that to the Reddit blackout posts which seem to be closer to 8 posts per day. Only 8 posts with over 100 comments, whereas it's hard to find even a single Reddit blackout post at less than 100 comments. My friends in every other community are buzzing about Threads, but here on HN someone com…

It is a bit weird. I've been toying with all the various Twitter alternatives as they have had their 5 minutes of fame and Threads definitely feels different and like it might stick. That feels like very big news but not to HN I guess?

I think over time HN has become more like a lot of other tech communities; a bit ideological, zealous, and detached. Most of these groups have ingroups (the virtuous hackers) and outgroups (CIA, NSA, RIAA, MPAA, Microsoft, Big Tech, Social Media, techbros, billionaires, .) This is the kind of community you'll find in a lot of FSF mailing lists, Libera (formerly Freenode) channels, and Linux subreddits. Threads, being a Meta project, is an outgroup project, so not worth talking about no matter how many use it. The other Twitter alternatives align more with the ingroup so worth boosting beyond their actual usage. It depends on what you want out of a community, some people want a space that is a bit relaxed and others want something a bit more cliquish. The FSF orbit communities have always been on the cliquish side.

For me if I wanted something more zealous I'd spend more time on Libera channels or FSF MLs. The few I do spend time in satisfy my fill of that culture.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#115

Post by 0xFF0123 »

hyperhopper wrote: post #113
yeeetz wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I don't fuck with social media that much besides my private Instagram, but there's more to it than just viral marketing. It's a pretty smooth app that appeals to people like my 18-25-ish age that feels like Twitter has gotten super weird and toxic. The honeymoon effect won't last forever, but it has something that a lot of social media users are looking for.

But why didn't those users just go to mastodon?

Because there is significantly less friction to the onboarding of Threads, and the significant network effect that Meta is capitalising on

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#116

Post by PaulHoule »

cpeterso wrote: post #60
tough wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the heck would they need an extension to share "Barcelona" Are we talking the whole city map or like wut

"Barcelona" is the code name of the Threads project. The Threads Android app is called "com.instagram.barcelona".

Maybe they should have named it something other than "Threads", the other day it just got out that these guys

https://threads.com/

have a trademark filing for "Threads" as a name for a communications service. If I picked out the right two screenshots you might have a hard time telling them apart

https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_...

and "Threads Group, Inc." is really the people behinds threads.com

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/threads-aa50

"Barcelona" might really have been available. "Threads Group, Inc." would be within their rights to make Meta change the name.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#117

Post by Gh0stRAT »

themitigating wrote: post #107
ryandrake wrote: post #96

I'm kind of amazed at how saturated the news is with stories about Threads. And not just tech news, but also every mainstream news site has at least one or more "submarine" marketing articles promoting Threads. Meta Marketing Team: You're not fooling anyone into thinking these are grassroots and viral, but honestly, well done with the media saturation. Meta's clearly got all the right channels on full-blast. It's rea…

Did you slow clap at your last statement because you figured it all out? Because of Elon Musk Twitter has been in the news for months. That includes his impulsive decision to buy it, firing massive amounts of people, and to keep everyone focused on him a barrage of right wing themed tweets about hot button political topics. Of course the news media is reporting on this. Then a massive US tech company, whose founder h…

You forgot the literal billionaire cage match that Musk tried to initiate but then backed out of when it seemed like Zuck wasn't afraid to fight him. Seemed like everyone was talking about it for a couple of days…

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#118

Post by fletchowns »

999900000999 wrote: post #32
lern_too_spel wrote: post #30

72 MB is egregious for a Twitter-clone MVP. For comparison, the full-featured Twitter app itself is 40 MB. The Mastodon app weighs in at 1.6 MB.

The target consumer doesn't care, wasting time optimizing for space doesn't make sense in this instance . I'm a little disappointed they didn't go purely React Native here. It would have been a great showcase as they ultimately own the React Native project.

Isn't React Native more for when you lack the resources to have engineers dedicated to building platform native solutions? Meta does not have that limitation, it does not seem surprising they would not be using React Native for this.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#119

Post by itsmartapuntocm »

hyperhopper wrote: post #113
yeeetz wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I don't fuck with social media that much besides my private Instagram, but there's more to it than just viral marketing. It's a pretty smooth app that appeals to people like my 18-25-ish age that feels like Twitter has gotten super weird and toxic. The honeymoon effect won't last forever, but it has something that a lot of social media users are looking for.

But why didn't those users just go to mastodon?

The narrative had already been seeded that mastodon is too fractured/difficult. And Threads has the momentum of Facebook/Instagram pushing it forward.

Re: How the new Threads app is made

#120

Post by PaulHoule »

hospitalJail wrote: post #12
wbobeirne wrote: post #4

Have there been any public plans for a fully featured web app? Having it be read-only on the web is a non-starter for me.

Facebook isnt going to be nice about this. They know they are in a strong position here. Expect an addicting algorithm that is fueled by ragebait (and if its anything like IG, coombait). The fact that it didn't release with an ability to time-sort tells you everything you need to know. Everyone knows how easy it is to sort by time, especially when stakes are low. Its anti-consumer from day 1. The surge in people are…

I dunno, I think the real market for "Threads" is brands and brands want some place that is innocuous. It seems the worst threat to Twitter is that advertisers are pulling out.

If Meta manages to beat Twitter at "amplifying angry voices" it's not going to be an attractive place to buy ads. Look at how YouTube blocks anything that is even slightly erotic (unless you could those "young girl shaking their ass" videos that are all Shorts wants to show me, and I'm not sure if those have ads) or that show any action in the Ukraine war, etc.

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