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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

#441
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a very peculiar attempt at gate keeping to me. It’s a social network application that we use to share the content that we’ve created with each other. That’s what social media is, and the use case I’m describing is basically what it was initially created for.

No they're right. If all you're doing is keeping up with a tight-nit group of friends, you could use a million other services. Group SMS, I-message, discord, Hangouts, even plain old email. Obviously there's a a key difference between instagram and all those others services I just mentioned and I posit that common difference is why you're using instagram instead. What is it?

The mechanics of something like Facebook are that you have your “friends” and people can engage as much or as little as they like or dip in and out. I find I’ll occasionally post something that relates to overlapping friends circles but people can easily ignore stuff that doesn’t really involve them. It’s a very different model from a much more deliberate mailing list or SMS chat.

I do have some group chats and email threads but there’s a broader that extends beyond that which social media apps can be useful for.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#442
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a very peculiar attempt at gate keeping to me. It’s a social network application that we use to share the content that we’ve created with each other. That’s what social media is, and the use case I’m describing is basically what it was initially created for.

No they're right. If all you're doing is keeping up with a tight-nit group of friends, you could use a million other services. Group SMS, I-message, discord, Hangouts, even plain old email. Obviously there's a a key difference between instagram and all those others services I just mentioned and I posit that common difference is why you're using instagram instead. What is it?

> Obviously there's a a key difference between instagram and all those others services I just mentioned and I posit that common difference is why you're using instagram instead. What is it?

It’s the media bit… Insta is created to share pictures and videos with your _own_ selection of followers. You couldn’t do that in WhatsApp without creating some horrific cartesian product of different groups chats for every node on your social graph. Even then the UX is designed around messaging, not as a content repository.

This has to be one of the most asinine takes I’ve ever seen.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#443
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a very peculiar attempt at gate keeping to me. It’s a social network application that we use to share the content that we’ve created with each other. That’s what social media is, and the use case I’m describing is basically what it was initially created for.

No they're right. If all you're doing is keeping up with a tight-nit group of friends, you could use a million other services. Group SMS, I-message, discord, Hangouts, even plain old email. Obviously there's a a key difference between instagram and all those others services I just mentioned and I posit that common difference is why you're using instagram instead. What is it?

The key difference is that all those other services you list have UX that is mostly centred around active use ("Check this out: Your friend Joe is doing a thing right now!"), while Instagram's UX is mostly centred around passive use ("Now that you have some free time, let's catch up on what your friend Joe did last week").

Ultimately they can all be used for the same purpose, sure. At the end of the day you're pushing the same bits around. But UX can make all the difference.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#445
post #228

It’s super funny to see people framing that as Threads failing. They totally may fail. But even after that initial drop (which is expected, for something that managed to get so much hype) they’re likely still the biggest app in the history in terms of DAU in few weeks after the launch. And if there’s one thing Meta knows how to do is to copy successful idea and slowly grind the growth till it dominates market.

There seems to be a desire to watch Meta fail, and that's reflected in the media coverage around Threads. This is broadly true of many large tech companies, but particularly Meta/Facebook.

The media coverage around Twitter is mostly "people like to see Elon fail" too.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#446

It's pretty common that after a peak of new signups, most do not convert to long term active users. This doesn't even take into account that most "active users" tend to never post anything, they just leech. They still count as MAU. I'm sure that Meta has plenty of ways to boost that number in the long term but overall I find the entire thing underwhelming. Threads is text-based Instagram. But not even that as you can…

Lurking and not leeching.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to expound on that? Journalists are typically the ones bringing any sort of credibility to topics. Without journalists, it's just randos and bots shit-posting their hot takes.

> Journalists are typically the ones bringing any sort of credibility to topics. Not at all. "Journalists" are as biased as they come. They'll sing any tune prescribed by the hand that feeds them. That hand is most often advertisers but may also be governments. Chances are the articles they produce are actually hidden advertisements or propaganda. How could anyone with such massive conflicts of interest bring credibi…

I think a lot has to do with provenance. For journalists this is their day job, they post with their real name and usually under some larger entities name. They are perhaps as biased as everyone else, but it's easier to figure out the biases.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon is trying to turn Twitter/X into the wests WeChat. So at least he’s doing something interesting? I’m back in the Elon corner. Is he goes down, it’ll be doing something interesting at least. Meta might have a head start with WhatsApp, but I don’t see them doing anything interesting or well.

Why does chat need to be 'interesting'?

That’s besides the point. Elon overpaid for a shitty social media company. So understandably he’s trying to make the money back. He’s not going to make it back just being another banal social media company.

Nothing has to be anything and I feel like I got down voted because people hate Elon now. I’m not asking you to like him. I’m only saying he’s going to try and create something and maybe it’s good.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't 'social media', that is a friend network utilizing a social media network already in place as a communications device.

This seems like a very peculiar attempt at gate keeping to me. It’s a social network application that we use to share the content that we’ve created with each other. That’s what social media is, and the use case I’m describing is basically what it was initially created for.

Their point is that social media is an abstract concept that correlates with it's use; not the platform it's used on. What Kim Kardashian (as an extreme example) posts on Instagram/Twitter/etc is social media, because it's media broadcast out to be shared and commented on.

Having an Instagram account and messaging your friends is not social media, it's a social network using the same aforementioned platform.

In other words, a public Telegram channel can be as much social media as Instagram can be, and Instagram can be as much a social network as Telegram is. And exclusively inverse, as well.

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