Threads, a new Twitter-like social network by Instagram/Facebook/Meta, went live yesterday afternoon, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, via his Threads account, said the platform had 30 million signups in the first 24 hours, he said.

While this number is only a fraction of the estimated 350+ million monthly active Twitter users, it clearly shows the high level of interest in replacing Elon Musk's bottomless pit of folly and failure. This excludes the entire region of the European Union, where it is not: Instagram boss Adam Mosely told "The Verge" that he is holding off on releasing Threads in the EU because of "the complexity of dealing with some laws that are coming into effect next year." This presumably refers to the EU's new Digital Markets Act, which will impose more stringent regulatory requirements on Google, Amazon, Apple, TikTok, Meta, Microsoft, and Samsung.

Threads were an immediate success for two obvious reasons: reach and ease of use. Mastodon is technically cumbersome and access to Bluesky is strictly limited by an invitation system: Mastodon is technically cumbersome and access to Bluesky is strictly limited by an invitation system. But all you need for the thread is to live in the target country and an Instagram account. And that is Zuck, and Facebook. For the slightly younger crowd (i.e. not me) it might be Instagram. It's unparalleled brand awareness and a built-in audience that no one else has access to.

Threads came on strong and never really exploded; Threads works and gives you at least a temporary edge on Twitter, but it's also very bare-bones. No direct messages, no hashtags, only a rudimentary search function, no desktop or web-based apps: instead, companies, celebrities, influencers, and various unknowns pop into your eyeballs.

I haven't used the thread much so far, but so far I don't recall seeing anyone I actually know: Spotify, Hockey, 6ixbuzzTV (whatever the hell that is), Mr Beast and Jacksepticeye, Complex, LA Times, Shaq, something called StockSharks, and so on. At this early stage, all of this is nothing more than an effort at overt involvement.

But that is also why Threads has an immediate advantage over competing platforms. High-profile celebrities and business accounts seem to be flooding the platform in ways that Mastodon and Bluesky can only dream of. For example, Richard Branson has posted pictures of his wife:

Jacksepticeye has suggested/threatened to post pictures of his balls:

Shaq has made his presence known:

ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith comments:

Ottawa Senators desperately seeking attention:

AOC, of course, joins in:

Marvel drops what may be the most immediately irritating post I've ever seen:

And Pubity sums up the current mood

And the video game industry also has a presence: Activision, Blizzard, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, Electronic Arts, Riot Games, and Devolver Digital have accounts. have: there is very little content now, but the fact that they have been committed since day one speaks for itself.

In short, Threads is definitely the place to be right now if you are chasing influence, or if you want to follow (or abuse) celebrities or your favorite game developers. Perhaps that's why people are willing to give Threads a chance, even though the current situation is not very good. There are now no less than four subreddits dedicated to Threads, including ThreadsApp, ThreadsApp_, threadsByInstagram, and MetaThreads, and while people are clearly aware of the shortcomings of this platform, the current negative The general attitude seems to be that the state of affairs is due to, as redditor MorukDilemma puts it, "Twitter's quick reaction to shithousery" and will improve soon.

But concerns about Threads go beyond its middling functionality; Threads collects vast amounts of personal data about its users (from names and addresses to sexual orientation, "political or religious beliefs," browsing history, photos, voice recordings, and much more) and once It might be naive to expect a more enlightened approach to privacy from the company that brought us Facebook. But as awareness and concern about how personal data is being collected and used by the tech giant continues to grow, this stands as a vivid example of how deeply they can dig into this stuff.

According to the Google Play store page, here is the full list of data that Threads can snoop on:

But aside from its intrusiveness, my brief experience with Threads has convinced me that the whole thing is completely unnecessary. Once Meta develops an effective moderation system that weeds out the crooks, wannabe Nazis, and other bottom-feeders, I may change my mind and join Threads in its entirety. Right now, however, there is no legitimate reason to bother using it, despite its attention-grabbing first day.

Despite their personal lack of interest, Twitter's upper management has shown signs of concern: while the Mastodon and Bluesky developments were largely ignored, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino said just before Threads launched that Twitter was often imitated, but obliquely commented that "the Twitter community can never be imitated."

Twitter owner Elon Musk was somewhat more reserved.