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Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

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Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#271
post #204

From what I have seen so far Threads seems to have been an incredibly rushed and premature launch, done directly to counter Twitter's missteps from the last few weeks. And the decision is proving to be the absolute correct one. What I don't understand is why Bluesky didn't seize the opportunity first. People were literally banging on their doors begging to be let in and they continued to go "sorry we are exclusive, i…

I'm not sure if this is the reason, but BlueSky doesn't appear to have a trust/safety moderation team that can operate at full scale. I mean, neither does twitter, but Jack understands that some people do want that. On the other hand, it's much easier for Meta to launch since they already have those people in place for Instagram and Facebook.

No one cares. Seriously. The order should be:

1. Generate hype

2. Launch the MVP

3. Focus on growth and scaling

4. Add new features

5. Figure out trust & safety and the rest of the long tail of problems

Diverting resources to focus on problems before they become problems is the #1 recipe for failure for startups, and bluesky seems hell bent on it.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#272
post #204

From what I have seen so far Threads seems to have been an incredibly rushed and premature launch, done directly to counter Twitter's missteps from the last few weeks. And the decision is proving to be the absolute correct one. What I don't understand is why Bluesky didn't seize the opportunity first. People were literally banging on their doors begging to be let in and they continued to go "sorry we are exclusive, i…

I've seen the belief that Google Plus failed because of the long invite-only limited access period repeated here many times - if that theory is correct, Bluesky seems to be making the exact same mistake with their launch.

It's certainly why it failed within the circles I was in. People with access in the early days didn't have enough invites to migrate existing communities - even very small ones.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#273
post #204

From what I have seen so far Threads seems to have been an incredibly rushed and premature launch, done directly to counter Twitter's missteps from the last few weeks. And the decision is proving to be the absolute correct one. What I don't understand is why Bluesky didn't seize the opportunity first. People were literally banging on their doors begging to be let in and they continued to go "sorry we are exclusive, i…

You hear that sound?

It's the sound of Zuckerberg whipping the carpet out from under Twitter and all the new upstart platforms.

And I'm no Zuckerberg fan. The contrary.

The ony plus point is seeing Elon get made. I heard he's now threatening to sue Twitter.

Hey Elon, you cannot sue your way to an excellent social media platform, no matter how good your lawyers are ...

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind boggling how even with prior knowledge and multiple opportunities, they replicated the Google plus mistake to the minutiae.

I actually don’t hate the idea but it’s the rigid sticking to it that’s the dumb part. The rate limiting clusterfuck was such a perfect opportunity to go “OK everyone here’s a hundred invites valid for the next 48 hours go wild”. Still feels like a club since you have to get an invite and creates an impetus on users to get these invites sent out ASAP. I actually figured that this was the strategy, but now that they l…

Bluesky actually closed registrations even with invites during the Twitter debacle. It's like they desperately want to fail.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#275
It's also impossible to deactivate your Instagram account. I tried the other day, and they immediately sent me an email saying my account had been "reactivated at my request". Slimy, unethical company. And this is a widely known issue for months or years.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#276

Clearly this is just something they haven't got around to implementing yet.

That's exactly what I thought. Yes, the release was rushed, so they haven't gotten to implementing all the features yet. If it stays around long enough for them to open it up to Europe they will have to support the RTBF.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36621778

PS: How dare you reason with the lynch mob ;) https://youtu.be/Q3eTSbC3neA?t=90

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you can't delete your account on Google Sheets but leave Google Docs intact. So it really depends on whether you think you have a separate Threads account, or just an Instagram account that Threads uses. It seems like the latter is the case though.

It's not about the login details. It's about removing the content.

Which one can do by deactivating/marking-private an account.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#278
post #256

I don't have an Instagram account so I tried to create one to try Threads. I used my real name and phone number but it was instantly banned as soon as it was created. I submitted an appeal, which required a selfie taken while holding a piece of paper with my username on it, which I provided. The next day I got an automated email that the selfie wasn't "acceptable" (no further elaboration) and that I was permanently b…

I couldn’t log in to Instagram for over a year due to a bug with my account. At first, there was no recourse. Then, they released Meta Verified, which offered customer support for a monthly subscription fee. It took about 50 emails back and forth (most some version of “I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do”) before they finally fixed it for me. I deleted it shortly after.

I really hope all the developers and artists I follow don’t move to Threads. I’m not exactly jumping at the chance to use an Instagram product again.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still hear about it, but its either “No one is there” from people on it or “I can’t get an invite” from people not.

Mind boggling how even with prior knowledge and multiple opportunities, they replicated the Google plus mistake to the minutiae.

BlueSky never had a chance, same goes for Threads. It's not some mistake in strategy, it just turns out you can't launch a copycat social network no matter how good your marketing/funding... network effects are tough.

They aren't failing due to privacy, or invite strategy, or anything else. They are failing because there's no differentiation whatsoever. It's so simple, and it's been true since forever.

The meme that Twitter is burning down is cope. The only people for whom it's burning down are extremely online liberals. And even they are not leaving Twitter. They are the only ones praying for these alternatives to succeed, or in recent HN threads asserting the downfall is assured and imminent. The actual ground truth of using Twitter if you aren't extremely online and praying on political rivals' downfall is that it basically hasn't changed much at all.

You need to differentiate, be cool, and be fun in some new way to leap past immense network effects. And probably also guarantee revenue share through a sort of decentralized network.

Re: Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

#280
post #256

I don't have an Instagram account so I tried to create one to try Threads. I used my real name and phone number but it was instantly banned as soon as it was created. I submitted an appeal, which required a selfie taken while holding a piece of paper with my username on it, which I provided. The next day I got an automated email that the selfie wasn't "acceptable" (no further elaboration) and that I was permanently b…

They generally believe that nearly everyone living in a western nation will already be in their user database. Ie. your friends will have already uploaded your phone number to them, or you'll already have an account on one of their other products (Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram).

If you are an adult and they don't have any record of you, then you're probably a fraudster, bot, scammer, or someone else they don't want, so they ban you.

The way to get unbanned is to make sure at least 30 or so friends have your phone number in their contacts list synced to facebook, all with similar names, and then sign up to instagram with that phone number.

I'm guessing you signed up with a burner phone and email address... Well thats not what they want...

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