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Threads users down by more than a half

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Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#111
So far out of all the Twitter / X alternatives and competitors, Threads is the clear serious contender. Especially one that has 50M+ active users (as admitted by Zuck) out of the gate in less than a month with 100M+ registered users even without launching in the EU.

The rest don't have a chance at all and are as good as dead or cannot handle the amount of users that both Twitter/X or Threads has.

It is clear that both of them will co-exist and retention always matters, with any so-called 'exodus'. For Threads it is early days. On the other hand over at Twitter / X [0] it seems far from 'dying', from the months of nonsense from the media who exaggerated the immediate collapse of Twitter / X last year which never happened.

Perhaps it is time to admit that you have been manipulated by the doomsayers who's only mission is to post clickbait and attract your eyeballs to their articles spreading nonsense to grift for affiliate links.

[0] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1684978651857596429/phot...

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#112
The app is missing so many core components, no DMs, no web interface, no trends, it's hard to find people. This absolutely has a market; but honestly given how half-baked it is, they probably should have waited for another Musk crucial mistake, which is inevitable.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#113

The reason Threads is failing is that, for whatever reason, they chose to launch without a desktop experience. I can't imagine how many users went to threads.net, clicked around for a few minutes while being extremely confused on how to sign up or access the product, then left permanently. No, I'm not going to download your mobile app, and most people won't either.

shrug I wouldn't install Facebook spyware on my iphone anymore than I'd install twitter junk on it either.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#114
post #97

I followed people who post yet when I open the app my first 2 posts (the only posts visible) are from accounts I'd never follow (right now Paris Hilton and ESPN) and could care less about. I don't want to scroll through their suggested bullshit trying to get to what I actually want to read. Maybe this works when you are following no one.

This is what killed it for me. There was also no obvious way for me to "train" their recommendations, even if I was willing to tolerate an algorithmic-only feed.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#115

I'm rooting for Bluesky, they've been loosening up their invites and I've got most of my twitter friends on there and active.

I'm very curious about Bluesky, still. If anyone's got an invite to kick around, romescpro@gmail.com =].

I am earnestly trying to go all in on ActivityPub these days.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#117
post #97

I followed people who post yet when I open the app my first 2 posts (the only posts visible) are from accounts I'd never follow (right now Paris Hilton and ESPN) and could care less about. I don't want to scroll through their suggested bullshit trying to get to what I actually want to read. Maybe this works when you are following no one.

Meta has no ability to not try to control your attention and divert it toward ads. They are institutionally incapable of anything other than control and divert. It is why I didn’t sign up for Threads and wouldn’t use Oculus if I were given one for free. The only Meta product I have access to is Facebook because my community is obsessed with FB Marketplace and posting upcoming IRL events on FB rather than email. I hate how Meta infiltrated our lives and now cannot be excised.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#118

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.

We have seen critical appraisals of past social media launches, e.g., "Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement" (2012) https://www.fastcompany.com/1837332/exclusive-new-google-stu... > https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3977050 > The study in question is, to my surprise, still available directly online: https://blog.rjmetrics.com/2012/05/15/new-google-plus-data-s... > There are another 1…

>We have seen critical appraisals of past social media launches, e.g., "Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement" (2012) https://www.fastcompany.com/1837332/exclusive-new-google-stu...>

This was nearly a year after G+ launched. The article in question here is about three weeks after the launch of threads. That doesn't seem like a fair comparison to me...

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#119
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mastodon isn't going to be /the/ new place. Hopefully it will become part of many new places.

Last year Mastodon went through a hype cycle. Everyone was declaring Twitter over. You had people stating they were leaving for good, dual-posting, etc. Funnily enough many of those same people are back on Twitter today with little mention of Mastodon. It peaked in November and then went into decline. As people leave, the value of the network goes down so even more people leave. Musk's antics might prop it up every o…

The Mastodon "hype cycle" was jam packed with people saying "this isn't it"[1]. The choice of server, account migration issues (partly resolved), and just some aesthetic reasons made it obvious it wasn't going to be the thing. There was a strong, I would say majority sentiment that everyone was waiting for some more Twitter-like competitor.

"Everyone was declaring Twitter over."

I mean...Twitter is very much over. References to Twitter, or Twitter being the canonical source, has utterly disappeared. Whole media spheres have made Twitter just another place, not the place. Whole fields have dried up on Twitter.

If you're hardcore into culture wars, Twitter is probably your place. Probably feels as alive as ever. In virtually any other field (sports, media, tech), while some people with big accounts are still trying to hang on -- for obvious reasons as other platforms just set them back -- engagement and "the crowd" has absolutely dissolved. Governments, agencies and groups used Twitter as a public space, and not only have many pulled back, I cannot fathom anyone making that choice today.

And that doesn't mean one needs to cite where someone replaced their "Twitter-like" activity. Many people just took it as an opportunity to assess the joy that sort of site was bringing them and decoupled. In the same way that the decline of blogger didn't mean that other sites grew the same amount...many people just stopped blogging.

[1] isn't it for a "general public, all topics" solution. Mastodon absolutely is a technical solution for niche spaces and groups and is absolutely flourishing in those realms.

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