Live data from Hacker News

Threads users down by more than a half

bbc.com

491–500 of 566 posts

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#491

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…

If 50% of journalists are as you describe, does that mean effectively they are all as you describe? What about 30%, if 30% are as you describe is that the threshold where none of them are worth a damn?

There used to be a time where as a rule journalists were below that threshold unless they were specifically working for The National Enquirer writing stories about Elvis still being alive, but whatever the threshold is, we damn well got closer to it.

It's a fair question to ask, what's the threshold and where we stand regarding it. You cannot say they're all like that, but you can say TOO MANY journalists are like that. I'd even agree with the latter statement. Would the remaining journalists be more or less likely to be out there on Twitter, mostly unheard? How about after Elon Musk's takeover? My sense is that Elon is more likely to get rid of the good ones when they correctly call him out on his nonsense.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#492

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.

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…

We all produce content that we publish on the social media site platform (posts, stories, reels. Text posts now too if you count Threads…). This is quintessential social media content, and was the primary way that social media platforms were used in their early years. My content with a couple dozen likes isn’t somehow not-social-media-content just because my audience is limited to my actual social circle.

The point they were trying to make isn’t difficult to understand. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#493
post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly think this is a very silly take. I don't think any of this is how any of this works. Threads attracted two kinds of people: 1. People coming mostly from instagram / tiktok who had never considered using Twitter because it had an established reputation and they knew it wasn't the kind of product for them, and 2. People switching from Twitter because they love Twitter-the-idea but can no longer stand Twitter…

That second group includes people who post to both and most fall into this group. To someone selling a product this is just another market. To others now is the time to get followers. What percentage have left twitter for threads? Unknown.

Yes absolutely.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#494

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…

> I have no idea what will become of Twitter

X

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For how counter-cultural HN has always prided itself in being, I find it a bit hard to believe just how much the media has shaped the story here. There's a lot of reason to be skeptical... it's not that I like Musk but the media doesn't like him and that's no secret. I find it to be quite the opposite of what you're saying, that their press team has done a good job of shaping the story positively for Meta. The puff p…

Much to your point of media having an apparent dislike for Musk, I had noticed Business Insider dominating anti-Musk coverage. It was so much so that when they published a flattering article about him I was shellshocked. I think people assume that because Musk is highly successful that he is a normal person, worthy of being judged by such a standard. From the outside nothing seems normal about him to me. He is almost…

While I can’t deny that people, including the media, have a general disliking for him, there’s plenty of puff pieces to be found, especially by corporate friendly outlets.

Business Insider in particular likes to publish articles that are either outright shameless puff pieces or occasionally contain thinly veiled attempts at spinning things in his favor.

Some examples:

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-new-logo-x-twitter...

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-x-rebrand-...

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-asana-dustin-moskov...

And here’s a Newsweek one:

https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-has-undeniably-gotten-bette...

As for the disliking or hatred towards him, I’m not sure why this puzzles you.

He is simply an unlikable person, doing unlikable things.

Yeah sure it doesn’t help that he’s wealthy in this time and age and it also doesn’t help that he’s attributed accomplishments of mythical proportions that are mostly veneer, nor does it help that he seemingly has taken it upon himself to disprove the business acumen that people attribute to him, but all of those are just cherries on top.

Certainly not half the reason people dislike him.

Gates, Zuckerberg and Bezos are in the same order of magnitude as Musk (at least from the perspective of most people) and don’t nearly get as much hate, because they don’t act like utter tools at every single chance they get.

That’s it, that’s the reason. It’s not rocket science.

Which is why it’s weird that you seem to yearn for a time where people will judge him on his individual actions, when they already do so.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#496

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…

As someone who first created an IG account in 2010, then deleted it in 2019 after watching it decline, I like how simply this summed up my reasoning : « commercial, flat, vain «

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#497
post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> shitty social media company How was it more shitty than what it is now or what Musk is trying to turn it into? At least it had a quite decent logo instead of as generic as it get X character. > interesting Also what so 'interesting' (in a non crazy/entertaining way) about what Musk is doing?

What was good about Twitter before? Limited message size. Couldn't edit posts. Impossible to discuss anything with any nuance or civility. Full of echo chambers. Why was it better? Because they kicked off people you didn't like, and whose content you probably didn't follow anyway?

>At least it had a quite decent logo instead of as generic as it get X character.

It's just a logo. Companies come and go. Everyone needs to get over it.

Trying to duplicate WeChat is an objectively interesting strategy. At the very least, by integrating payments your social media platform doesn't have have to sell ads. You could buy items directly off a merchants Twitter/X page and Twitter/X can just take a merchant fee. You could have a market place with integrated payment methods rather than posting on Facebook and working out an intermediate payment method on the side.

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#498
post #461

If you want an example of "inside the bubble" it's thinking any of the social media channels, private or not for profit represent a realistic cohort of community engagement comparable to "the people have spoken" It's some people, sometimes, in some contexts, saying some things which go to opinion. It's no better or worse than a radio or TV "vox pop" and equally biassed. Or that eternal source of truth "the man in the…

Your argument appears incomplete. Either there is some method of obtaining "a true expression of public views in the wide", in which case: What is it? Or there is no such method, in which case: Why do you specifically advise to drop social media channels? What makes them less valuable as a method of gauging public views than, say, talking to a taxi driver, or an opinion poll? You are suggesting that I drop every beli…

Most people just don't want to shout things, and the ones that do are a tiny unrepresentative minority. Imho it's that simple, and has been from the get-go

Re: Threads users down by more than a half

#499

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.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN