In case you missed it, Meta launched Threads, its version of Twitter, last week. As of this post’s writing, over 99 million users had registered. You can follow the number of sign-ups on this site https://www.quiverquant.com/threadstracker/. I still haven’t signed up and may never. My disenchantment with Twitter does not inspire a desire to join the platform. I’m also admittedly not the biggest Instagram user. I lurk on there as I lurk on most platforms.
It is the next big thing (at least for now). It looks like a cross between Twitter and Instagram but currently lacks what I think is the most important feature of Twitter, hashtags. We’ve talked about tagging and why that is important. I’m sure the feature will eventually appear, but this should have been a version one release.
In the mix, Elon Musk and Twitter issued a cease and desist letter to Meta. It’s downright hilarious not to believe that with the recent changes to Twitter that competitors would not arise. Twitter claims that Meta is stealing proprietary secrets by employing former Twitter developers and engineers.
Will Threads actually become the next Twitter? I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see. This moment may be our chance to use Threads for education before the site takes on a life of its own.