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Threads users down by more than a half

bbc.com

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Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#31

Post by anonymousab »

davidw wrote: post #26
dhosek wrote: post #23

I don’t use Twitter because I like Twitter, but because that’s where the people that I like to interact with (mostly writers) are. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter isn’t going to be that place with each new chaos monkey attack from Musk, but what the successor place is going to be remains to be seen. Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed only and the algori…

> Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed That was probably a wise decision to seed it with something for people to look at and interact with so they didn't just sign in and see a blank page. The random influencers and other people "go away" pretty quickly if you start following and interacting with people you care more about.

A common complaint with Threads was that, no after who you blocked or muted, it's near impossible to get away from a feed filled with influencers and common celebrity gossip nonsense. That seems to be part of the ongoing design intent - not just an aspect of how they wanted to bootstrap the service.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#32

Post by skc »

Threads will be alright in the end.

They launched it at a very opportune time when Twitter was having massive technical issues.

That was enough to get millions of people to kick the tires and more importantly, create awareness.

The next time Twitter goes down, and it will any day now, people will again flock to Threads and notice that it got a little better. Twitter will get fixed again, and a lower percentage of Threads users go back again.

And repeat.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#33

Post by davidw »

anonymousab wrote: post #31
davidw wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed That was probably a wise decision to seed it with something for people to look at and interact with so they didn't just sign in and see a blank page. The random influencers and other people "go away" pretty quickly if you start following and interacting with people you care more about.

A common complaint with Threads was that, no after who you blocked or muted, it's near impossible to get away from a feed filled with influencers and common celebrity gossip nonsense. That seems to be part of the ongoing design intent - not just an aspect of how they wanted to bootstrap the service.

A few days ago they introduced a 'following' feed. They seem pretty intent on iterating quickly on it.

And even without that, the influencers mostly went away for me when I followed people I found more interesting.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#34

Post by lambic »

SilasX wrote: post #16
jedberg wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen threads posts linked from Instagram stories. I think that's the main sharing use case right now. I don't know because I haven't bothered signing up for threads.

That's the problem: if you don't sign up (as I haven't), you can remain blissfully unaware of Threads. The same isn't true of Twitter. I stand corrected on other Meta properties linking it, but, of course, they have to get links outside of that sphere to compete with Twitter on mindshare.

The same is becoming true of Twitter, can't remember the last time I saw an embedded tweet.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#35

Post by ceejayoz »

elicash wrote: post #15
ceejayoz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be a lot more compelling to me if it had a "people I follow" feed. I get that they didn't want it to be empty on launch, but at least giving me the option would mean I could at least have a chance of seeing mainly people I know on there.

That launched like a day or two ago -- though it doesn't remember your last setting and is hard to find.

Maybe they're A/B testing it; I don't see any such option.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#36

Post by gremlinsinc »

dhosek wrote: post #23

I don’t use Twitter because I like Twitter, but because that’s where the people that I like to interact with (mostly writers) are. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter isn’t going to be that place with each new chaos monkey attack from Musk, but what the successor place is going to be remains to be seen. Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed only and the algori…

I'd like to see some semi centralized but social benefit Corp create a Twitter that utilizes the h factor score that scientific researchers have.

ie something like Reddit karma but it's based off how controversial a users posts and comments generally are, how many times posts are reported or flagged, and use ai to do sentiment analysis as well to verify the reports and scores are accurate.

Maybe have the users tweets a shade of blue and the more respected the brighter the blue color.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#37

Post by ghawk1ns »

dhosek wrote: post #23

I don’t use Twitter because I like Twitter, but because that’s where the people that I like to interact with (mostly writers) are. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter isn’t going to be that place with each new chaos monkey attack from Musk, but what the successor place is going to be remains to be seen. Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed only and the algori…

> It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter isn’t going to be that place with each new chaos monkey attack from Musk

Is this hyperbole? Twitter will be fine, Musk isn't going to train-wreck 10s of billions. Twitter today isn't even that fundamentally different from pre-Musk. The biggest change has been perception from ideological extremes. I'm sure Twitter will evolve but evolution is for growth, not death.

You use Twitter for exposure to writers, wouldn't the proposed lifting of the character limit be a net positive for writers? Wouldn't writers use Twitter more if writing on Twitter was a source of income?

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#39

Post by milsorgen »

dhosek wrote: post #23

I don’t use Twitter because I like Twitter, but because that’s where the people that I like to interact with (mostly writers) are. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter isn’t going to be that place with each new chaos monkey attack from Musk, but what the successor place is going to be remains to be seen. Threads failed the smell test early on because it started out with algorithmic feed only and the algori…

The feed could be somewhat overlooked, at least for the time being, if hashtags and searching were properly implemented. If no interesting conversations appear in my feed then there's no way for me to spend more time on Threads. Open, Look, Close. Repeat that a few times and give up. I gave it a chance but there's just so little to do.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#40

Post by operatingthetan »

mrcwinn wrote: post #17
operatingthetan wrote: post #9

This is being reported in a strange way. We don't typically write about startups gaining initial signups and then compare them to the active users as if they lost something by not getting 100% of them to engage. Do we even have numbers for what percent of twitter users actively engage versus total user base? I don't think they are doing very bad considering it's mobile only right now.

"Not getting 100%" is a bit of a straw man argument. "Less than half" is significant, particularly when the CEO (to his credit) is calling it out as something that must improve. And it matters to balance the existing narrative from the Verge, which seems to just regurgitate Meta's VP's language about it being a runaway success.

>"Not getting 100%" is a bit of a straw man argument.

Alright, forget the number. Let's focus on active users versus signups and how it's being reported for Threads.

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