Threads has been online for a week, and I have been playing for a week as well. Let me share my personal feelings.
Threads and Twitter#
Previously, I discussed the current pain points of Threads at length. Since Threads initially claimed to be a Twitter killer, I will compare some of their features.
| Feature | Threads | |
|---|---|---|
| Translation | Available | Unavailable |
| Only see followed | Available | Unavailable |
| Save images | Available | Unavailable |
| NSFW content | Available | Available |
| Hashtag functionality | Available | Unavailable |
| Web version | Available | Unavailable |
| Advertisements | Available | Unavailable |
Are there any outstanding features? I don't think so. At most, there are currently no advertisements, and the interface is clean.
Information Feed Recommendations#
These are the comparisons based on basic features. After a week, Threads has only released one update without adding any new features. This is not the most disappointing aspect for me; the most disappointing part is its homepage recommendations and discussion atmosphere.
I have seen people complaining on Threads multiple times: why does Threads keep recommending me content that I have repeatedly seen? Every now and then, the same information will reappear in the homepage feed. What's even more outrageous is that today I saw a user complaining about being recommended pictures of naked men on the homepage. As an app that has been online for over a week, owned by a well-established social networking company, it is bewildering that such issues have not been resolved.
If Meta was doing social media for the first time, it would be understandable, but they already have Facebook and Instagram, two very mature social networks. I believe their team is capable of creating a good social platform. However, the recommendations in Threads' homepage feed are hard to comprehend.
Discussion Atmosphere#
Threads relies on the Instagram app for registration and usage, which means that initially, this platform is more focused on life sharing, where people share fragments of their lives. Various official accounts on Threads are playing around and having fun, while others simply give likes and leave comments like "good" or "nice."
Although Threads claims to be a Twitter killer, Meta's relevant officials have clearly stated that they do not encourage users to post political or hard news content. Currently, Meta is turning a blind eye to this, but strict management may be implemented in the future. I have learned that many Taiwanese people are using Instagram, so many Taiwanese friends have joined Threads. However, they told me that their main source of news is still Facebook. Firstly, because Facebook has many news media accounts, and they are accustomed to this way of obtaining news. Secondly, many people will discuss a piece of news on Facebook, even if they haven't searched for related news, Facebook's algorithm will recommend it to them. Obviously, Threads' discouragement of political and hard news content cannot meet their needs, so they naturally transfer their discussion needs to other platforms.
The proportion of programmers on Threads is not high. At least in my homepage feed, I hardly see any posts from programmers. Even if there are, it is usually sharing content like this.
I don't have any objections to such posts, but the interactivity of these posts is low, whether on Threads or Twitter.
On Twitter, I have always felt that programmers contribute a lot to the discussions. They often discuss products, services, and life reflections. Although I have seen some famous bloggers on Twitter also open Threads accounts, most of their posts are from a few days ago, indicating that Threads currently has little appeal to them.
On one hand, limiting certain topics on the platform will inevitably reduce the activity of some users. On the other hand, the current user composition is relatively homogeneous, and it feels like everyone is just entertaining themselves, without contributing many interesting topics.
Speculating the Future#
Meta has already removed the numbering of Threads users, and it is unclear when it will be available to EU users. At the same time, according to Google Trends, the popularity index of Threads is rapidly declining.
I think the best outcome for Threads is to become a platform similar to Xiaohongshu, where people can share their lives through text. It can also serve as a platform for dynamic updates from various celebrity accounts. The worst outcome would be the rapid loss of users, becoming a flash in the pan.
To be honest, I am now very skeptical of Mark Zuckerberg's level of attention to this product, and I even feel that his attitude towards this product is very indifferent. I don't know if their entire product team is confused or if they have already started to neglect it. When Threads was launched, I went there with the mentality of a Twitter refugee, thinking that finally there was a platform where I could escape from Twitter and where everyone could gather to share and discuss. But based on what I have seen so far, reality is far from my imagination.