Social media news has been unrelenting this month, with a few major shifts in top platforms. It turns out that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are not only thinking of squaring off in a cage match, but also going head-to-head with their respective social media platforms.
On July 5, Meta released their new app called Threads, a platform used for sharing text-only posts and joining public conversations. Although Threads is paired with your Instagram account, it is a totally different space for sharing real-time updates and participating in conversations within…you guessed it…threads. Instagram’s chief, Adam Mosseri, referred to Threads as a more positive “public square” for communities “that never really embraced Twitter.”
But the goal for Meta is not to be another Twitter. Threads is meant to be a hangout space for lifestyle brands and influencers, not a place to stay informed and get information.
Post by @mosseriView on Threads
According to Reuters, if Threads manages to retain users, it could achieve $5 billion in annual ad revenue, equaling what Twitter earned in 2021. This could be possible. Threads has not yet released in Europe has yet to enable the advertising portion of the platform.
Within the first week, over 100 million users signed up for Threads, making it the fastest growing app in history. According to Similarweb, a data company, web traffic to Twitter was down 5% during the first two full days Threads was generally available compared to the same days the previous week. The company said Twitter’s web traffic is down 11% compared with the same days in 2022.
But hold on a second, Twitter is no more. Sorry. We should have said, “X.”
That’s right. Soon after the launch of Threads, Elon Musk announced that Twitter is officially rebranding itself to “X,” stripping its platform of the iconic bird logo and branding…although their official account seems to not be able to change its handle from @twitter to @X.
Our headquarters tonight pic.twitter.com/GO6yY8R7fO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 24, 2023
This change is the latest in what seems to be yet another unforeseen radical change to the platform since Musk’s takeover. For example, the platform formerly known as Twitter recently announced it was limiting the number of daily direct messages unverified users can send in what it said is part of an effort to reduce spam. If users want to increase the number of daily messages allowed, they have to join the subscription service launched last year. Additionally, it limited the amount of tweets non-subscribers could see and barred unregistered users from even viewing Tweets.
Also a recent change: You have to pay for the verification subscription to run ads on the platform.
A combination of these changes could be why Musk said recently that Twitter/X advertising revenue has seen a 50% decrease, although he did not specify what time frame he was referring to.
While Threads does look similar to Twitter/X, we’ve noticed a few differences. First, the search experience is limited to finding accounts, meaning users no longer have the ability to find people’s posts or search by topic. There is no trending page (making it impossible to see what issues are dominating the discourse and partaking in those conversations), and there are no direct messages. However, according to Mosseri, some of these features are in the works.
So, what do you think? Is Threads where the tides are going or is Twitter…err, we mean X…going to be a new and improved Twitter? We can’t wait to see. But keep following along and we’re sure to discuss it!
