Threads: What is its real target? Who does it threaten?
Will it come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it?
Will it come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it?
Will it come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it?
Will it come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it?
Threads crossed 50 million downloads in just over a day since its launch, becoming the most rapidly downloaded app of all time. The social media microblogging site comes bolstered by the heft of Mark Zuckerberg’s wildly popular Instagram, and firmly in its crosshairs is the social media numero uno when it comes to news and opinions, Twitter.
Its current virality apart, the big question is, will Threads, alongside the ‘unholy’ trinity of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it? Also, how much of a threat is it to Twitter, as well as desi microblogging sites like Koo, and what are they doing about it?
Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder & CEO of Koo, the ‘desi Twitter' that allows you to post in multiple Indian languages, did not sound too bothered. “Threads is a potential threat to Twitter,” said Radhakrishna, pointing out how the battle raging in the English language space would not have much consequence for Indian language-first sites.
“Koo has more than 80 per cent of its platform using local language and neither Threads nor Twitter will have more than 5 per cent anytime in the near future,” he wrote in a text to THE WEEK.
Twitter, however, would have reasons to worry. The microblogging site has always punched above its weight thanks to the patronage of authorities, politicians and thought leaders using it as their official platform to disseminate information. This was possible mainly because of its news-first approach, while other social media platforms targeted the larger socio-cultural milieu — Facebook as a sort of chronicler of lives, Instagram as a photo tool, TikTok (before it was banned) as a short video-sharing site, Snapchat as the pre-pubescent communication mode etc.
However, all that has been in a state of flux for the last several months, as on one hand, the Indian govt has been cracking down on the site’s reluctance to follow its diktats, while on the other hand, Elon Musk’s takeover has seen a backlash of users leaving with Musk tweaking many rules, including the number of posts a person can read in a day to monetising the verification process. The Threads challenge couldn’t have come at a worse time for Twitter.
“The ecosystem will definitely benefit from one more player, more competition,” said Vivek Das, CEO of FoxyMoron, Zoo Media, an independent agency network.
Add to that the Instagram pull — 23 crore out of its 200 plus crore global users are in India, making the country its biggest market. With stringent data protection or digital laws yet to come into effect in India, Meta is using the same trick it pulled a couple of years ago with WhatsApp, whereby it shares data between platforms. This time, it is easy for Instagram users to start using Thread — they can use the same username and password and sign-in, and even co-opt the same followers, besides posting and sharing between the platforms.
Yet, it remains to be seen if Threads will have the longevity, or remains a viral trend that bubbled up and then fizzled out. The tech landscape is littered with many such stories — for example, Clubhouse, an audio-first app which rocketed to popularity during the pandemic years. However, its downloads, which peaked at 10 million in February 2021, fell to below a million just a few months later.
Similar has been the case of Signal, which promised a ‘private’ messaging antidote to WhatsApp. In 2021, as Zuckerberg tried to force a new privacy policy down users’ throats, the public backlash saw millions switching to Signal. Yet, by all indications, most users slowly returned to WhatsApp eventually.
In fact, some believe the real threat will be to Snapchat. Mihir Surana, CEO, Nofiltr.Group, an influencer management agency, explains: “Since the beginning, Snapchat was known for a person being their best self by being raw through their pictures and videos. The only difference between Snapchat and Threads is pictorial to texts. Creators and public figures use Snapchat to build community. Now this is much easier with one-click Instagram access on Threads.”
And while meme makers go to town with a purported Musk vs Zuckerberg cage fight, the real aim of the Facebook founder might just be garnering more of what he is known to guzzle and sustain on — more data.
“Meta isn’t really changing its business model with the launch of Threads, they are simply increasing the size of the canvas to acquire a new audience (text first) and richer data on existing audiences (cross-platform),” explained Das of Zoo Media. “With third party cookie deprecation on the horizon (with Apple and Google tightening privacy settings on their operating systems), the richer the data a media owner has, the higher the value they can command from advertisers. Brands and creators have already started jumping onto Threads with the initial user growth being on adrenaline, so ad revenue is a given eventually.”
Its current virality apart, the big question is, will Threads, alongside the ‘unholy’ trinity of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, come to control the flow of news and public opinion as we know it? Also, how much of a threat is it to Twitter, as well as desi microblogging sites like Koo, and what are they doing about it?
Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder & CEO of Koo, the ‘desi Twitter' that allows you to post in multiple Indian languages, did not sound too bothered. “Threads is a potential threat to Twitter,” said Radhakrishna, pointing out how the battle raging in the English language space would not have much consequence for Indian language-first sites.
“Koo has more than 80 per cent of its platform using local language and neither Threads nor Twitter will have more than 5 per cent anytime in the near future,” he wrote in a text to THE WEEK.
Twitter, however, would have reasons to worry. The microblogging site has always punched above its weight thanks to the patronage of authorities, politicians and thought leaders using it as their official platform to disseminate information. This was possible mainly because of its news-first approach, while other social media platforms targeted the larger socio-cultural milieu — Facebook as a sort of chronicler of lives, Instagram as a photo tool, TikTok (before it was banned) as a short video-sharing site, Snapchat as the pre-pubescent communication mode etc.
However, all that has been in a state of flux for the last several months, as on one hand, the Indian govt has been cracking down on the site’s reluctance to follow its diktats, while on the other hand, Elon Musk’s takeover has seen a backlash of users leaving with Musk tweaking many rules, including the number of posts a person can read in a day to monetising the verification process. The Threads challenge couldn’t have come at a worse time for Twitter.
“The ecosystem will definitely benefit from one more player, more competition,” said Vivek Das, CEO of FoxyMoron, Zoo Media, an independent agency network.
Add to that the Instagram pull — 23 crore out of its 200 plus crore global users are in India, making the country its biggest market. With stringent data protection or digital laws yet to come into effect in India, Meta is using the same trick it pulled a couple of years ago with WhatsApp, whereby it shares data between platforms. This time, it is easy for Instagram users to start using Thread — they can use the same username and password and sign-in, and even co-opt the same followers, besides posting and sharing between the platforms.
Yet, it remains to be seen if Threads will have the longevity, or remains a viral trend that bubbled up and then fizzled out. The tech landscape is littered with many such stories — for example, Clubhouse, an audio-first app which rocketed to popularity during the pandemic years. However, its downloads, which peaked at 10 million in February 2021, fell to below a million just a few months later.
Similar has been the case of Signal, which promised a ‘private’ messaging antidote to WhatsApp. In 2021, as Zuckerberg tried to force a new privacy policy down users’ throats, the public backlash saw millions switching to Signal. Yet, by all indications, most users slowly returned to WhatsApp eventually.
In fact, some believe the real threat will be to Snapchat. Mihir Surana, CEO, Nofiltr.Group, an influencer management agency, explains: “Since the beginning, Snapchat was known for a person being their best self by being raw through their pictures and videos. The only difference between Snapchat and Threads is pictorial to texts. Creators and public figures use Snapchat to build community. Now this is much easier with one-click Instagram access on Threads.”
And while meme makers go to town with a purported Musk vs Zuckerberg cage fight, the real aim of the Facebook founder might just be garnering more of what he is known to guzzle and sustain on — more data.
“Meta isn’t really changing its business model with the launch of Threads, they are simply increasing the size of the canvas to acquire a new audience (text first) and richer data on existing audiences (cross-platform),” explained Das of Zoo Media. “With third party cookie deprecation on the horizon (with Apple and Google tightening privacy settings on their operating systems), the richer the data a media owner has, the higher the value they can command from advertisers. Brands and creators have already started jumping onto Threads with the initial user growth being on adrenaline, so ad revenue is a given eventually.”