Zuckerberg posted on Threads that his new app passed 2 million sign ups in the first 2 hours

[highplainsdem]

https://www.threads.net/@zuck

https://www.threads.net/t/CuVjWxcJ22Z

zuck

Threads just passed 2 million sign ups in the first two hours.

But it already seems that Threads will not be replacing the old Twitter, with its unlimited viewing by the public unless accounts are set to private.

See my replies in this thread in LBN: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143097053

Threads limits people who aren't logged in to seeing only 14 replies to posts, no matter how many replies have been posted. Then you see a notice telling you to get the app to see more.

I don't know what the limit will be on total posts viewable in each account you're looking at, if you aren't logged in, but it's likely there will be one, because there are limits on Instagram posts you can view.

This will be a problem limiting the public reach of news organizations, government agencies, and anyone needing to reach the public and post a series of messages. It won't be as good as the old Twittwr was.

[brooklynite]

1. Perhaps, give them 24 hours to work some of the bugs out?

[Emrys]

2. That sign-up rate needs to be seen in the context of the number of Instagram users there are

- an estimated 2.3 billion. Since Threads integrates with Instagram, Instagram users are more than half-way to being signed up on Threads anyway.

Some on Twitter have reported having signed up to Threads, then had second thoughts and found that to back out, they'd have to abandon their Instagram account.

How it's going to roll out in the EU, we'll have to wait and see:

Should we be worried about Meta’s growing power?

Like many Meta-run products, Threads offers the unsettling experience of integrating almost too well into existing products. Making an account gives you the option to follow your existing circle from Instagram. Your followers will likely receive a notification that you’ve made an account and posted, encouraging them to do the same.

And then there are the longstanding privacy issues. Watchdogs have raised a number of concerns about Threads, as the tech giant seeks to pull even more users into its universe. Threads is able to collect a wide range of personal information, including health, financial, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and “sensitive info”, according to its data privacy disclosure on the App Store.

Because of those issues, Threads is not yet available in the European Union, which has strict data privacy rules. The company is working on rolling the app out to more countries, but cites regulatory uncertainty for its decision to hold off on a European launch.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/06/we-tried-threads-metas-new-twitter-rival-heres-what-happened

The UK not being in the EU any more, it seems it's already gone live here:

We tested the app from the US, but it’s now live in Apple and Google Android app stores in more than 100 countries including Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan.

Not that I feel in any way tempted. Apart from the fact there's no freaking way I'm giving Zuckerberg any of my data to play with if I can help it, the crucial Twitter accounts I check out regularly won't have the luxury of the time and energy it would take to build a new following on another platform from scratch while the world moves on - and in some cases blows up - around them. My own usage of Twitter's been remarkably unscathed by the upheavals of the last few days anyway, apart from reading even more moaning about Musk than usual.

[highplainsdem]

3. Wow:

Some on Twitter have reported having signed up to Threads, then had second thoughts and found that to back out, they'd have to abandon their Instagram account.

What a nasty trick.

[Emrys]

6. This is all hearsay via Twitter, but

I understand you can effectively disable your Threads account, but there's no way of selectively unsubscribing to Threads so you keep your Instagram account (and vice versa).



(I've no idea if pasted Twitter images still work for those not signed in, but that's a screenshot of what Threads says about deactivating your account.)

Some the notables I've seen on Twitter who signed up have had mixed reactions so far - but it's obviously very early days. The lack of hashtags and the usual threading tools seem like very basic issues, and presumably not difficult to address.

I've also seen some folks who already had active Instagram accounts who don't want their Threads accounts linked to them (because of fear of backlash etc.).

If Threads puts the wind up Musk, that's all good fun, I guess, but I expect he'll soon respond by doing something utterly stupid in an impulsive panic!

[moondust]

4. BBC says 5 million in 4 hours.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66112648

[GenThePerservering]

5. It's completely predictable that Threads would have a lot of sign-ups fast

given the number of people using Insta and the almost automatic recruitment of one's feed.

Also, Twitter is such a dumpster fire at this point that people are very open to an alternative. A reporter for The Guardian reviewed it and was happy with the ease of the UI and some of the features, including higher character count, more photos, etc.

What remains is Zuck's rogue data empire, but robots don't care about privacy.