ReportWire

Tag: threads

  • Surprise: Taylor Swift is joining Threads at the exact same time as her new album drop

    Surprise: Taylor Swift is joining Threads at the exact same time as her new album drop

    [ad_1]

    With the Eras Tour still under way and The Tortured Poets Department dropping today, you can’t shake off Taylor Swift these days. She’s everywhere — in the news, on streaming services and on social media, which now includes Threads. Taylor’s Threads account, and her first post, are going live around midnight. And if you’re one of the first people to share her post, you’ll get a custom badge based on her new album’s artwork that you can display on your Threads profile.

    Meta has been dropping hints and releasing easter eggs for Swifties over the past week as part of a countdown for her album release today. You may have even seen its call to pre-follow Swift on Threads, along with the shimmer effect that’s been showing up on conversations on the social network with Taylor-related hashtags. Celebratory hearts pop up when you like relevant posts, as well.

    On Instagram, you’ll be able to change the background in your DMs with one that’s inspired by TPD’s artwork. The company told Engadget that the countdown on Taylor’s Instagram profile will also reset, and you can apparently expect yet another surprise in-app experience to go live at 2AM ET.

    [ad_2]

    Mariella Moon

    Source link

  • Threads is testing real-time search results

    Threads is testing real-time search results

    [ad_1]

    Meta’s Threads app is often described as the company’s competitor to X. But Threads users, especially those once active on Twitter, are often quick to point out that Meta’s app is not yet a great source for real-time information. The app’s “for you” algorithm often surfaces days-old posts alongside fresh ones, and its recently introduced feature only shows five topics at a time. But for those holding out hope that the app may eventually become more useful for real-time information, Meta’s latest test may be good news.

    The app is testing a new search feature that will allow users to filter results by recency, according to shared by Threads user Daniel Rodriguez. Threads’ top exec, Adam Mosseri, confirmed the change. “We’re starting to test this with a small number of people so it’s easier to find relevant search results in real time,” Mosseri .

    That may sound like a relatively minor tweak but the lack of a chronological search has long been frustrating for Threads users looking to find news or commentary about current events. And while sorting by “recent” posts isn’t the same as chronological search, it should help surface posts about breaking news or other timely topics.

    Just how useful the feature is, though, will depend on if Meta makes the filter available to all topics on the platform. The screenshot showed a recency option for “NBA Threads,” a community Mosseri has gone out of his way in the app. But Mosseri has been considerably less enthusiastic about other timely topics, saying last year he didn’t want “hard news.” Elsewhere, Threads has angered some users by removing from recommendations and search results for topics it deems “potentially sensitive,” like vaccines and COVID-19, even if the posts don’t violate its rules.

    [ad_2]

    Karissa Bell

    Source link

  • No, ‘Leave the World Behind’ and ‘Civil War’ Aren’t Happening Before Your Eyes

    No, ‘Leave the World Behind’ and ‘Civil War’ Aren’t Happening Before Your Eyes

    [ad_1]

    Several people are typing, and they’re all saying Netflix’s Leave the World Behind is wildly prescient. The movie, directed by Sam Esmail, opens on a world where communication has been knocked out following a cyberattack. And earlier this week, when nearly all of Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Threads—went down, people took to (other) social media platforms to post and hand-wring about the apocalypse.

    Most of the posts, per usual, were jokes: wry observations to help soothe the agita that comes with being alive when everything feels unstable. “Another dry run for Leave the World Behind,” wrote one X user. “I fear we are moving close to a Leave the World Behind scenario,” wrote another. “These tech glitches are increasingly [sic] with regularity.”

    But there was also a more conspiratorial undercurrent. For those who don’t know, Leave the World Behind was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama through their company Higher Ground Productions. Ever since the movie’s release, a conspiracy theory has persisted online that the film is somehow a warning about the widespread disorder to come.

    This same thread emerged late last month when an AT&T network outage wreaked havoc on US cellular networks. “The predictive programming of the Obama’s [sic] movie, Leave the World Behind, is becoming a little too real right now,” one user wrote on X. “I wouldn’t put it past our own federal government to institute a terrorist or cyber attack, just to blame it on foreign countries like China and Russia.”

    Odds are that nothing of the sort happened. Leave the World Behind is based on a 2020 book by Rumaan Alam and, according to the film’s director Sam Esmail, the former US president came on as a production partner only after the script was pretty much done. “I would just say [the conspiracy theorists] are pretty wrong in terms of his signaling,” he told Collider. “It had nothing to do with that.”

    Not that facts have ever gotten in the way of an online conspiracy before. Case in point, this week’s big trailer drop: Civil War. When the first trailer for Alex Garland’s next film dropped in December, online right-wing pundits speculated that it was also predictive programming, something meant to prepare the populace for events already planned by those in power. When the new trailer dropped this week, people on Reddit and elsewhere seemed to be fretting that the film will become, as The Hollywood Reporter put it, “MAGA fantasy fuel.”

    Ultimately, reactions like these to Leave the World Behind and Civil War merely serve as proof that they’re effective as works of fiction. They’re not part of some psyop to placate the public—they’re reactions to a political era that is fraught at best. Comfort is not a prerequisite for good filmmaking; movies are supposed to be unsettling sometimes. Concerns about a movie being too real are just signs that the filmmakers have tapped in to the collective psyche. Rather than think that Esmail or Garland—or Obama, for that matter—are trying to send some warning, perhaps consider the circumstances for why you’re worried that they might.

    [ad_2]

    Angela Watercutter

    Source link

  • Meta is starting to test the Threads API with third-party developers

    Meta is starting to test the Threads API with third-party developers

    [ad_1]

    Meta is starting to bring the Threads API online, though it will still be some time before it’s widely accessible to developers. The company has begun testing its new developer tools with a handful of companies, Meta engineer Jesse Chen shared in on Threads.

    According to Chen, whose post was first spotted by TechCrunch, is currently in “beta” but a wider rollout could come “by the end of June.” The initial group of companies testing out the beta version of the API include social media management platforms Sprinklr, Hootsuite, Social News Desk and Sprout Social. Meta is also working with tech news aggregator Techmeme and live video platform Grabyo. For now, it sounds like the API will primarily enable the publishing of content to Threads from these services, but Chen said there are also plans to “enable reply moderation and insights capabilities.”

    Having an API could help Threads attract more publishers and power users, who often rely on third-party software for posting and analytics. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has previously expressed some reluctance to woo publishers, that his “concern” was that a dedicated API would “mean a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content.” (Mosseri has he doesn’t want to “amplify news on the platform.”)

    But with users, Threads is starting to look more and more like a viable alternative to X, and offering professional-level tools is a good way to get publishers and brands to post more to the platform. Having an API could also, potentially, aid the company’s plans to support interoperability and the rest of , though Meta hasn’t publicly discussed its API in that context,.

    [ad_2]

    Karissa Bell

    Source link

  • Facebook Killing Hard-To-Find News Tab Because It Says Users Don’t Care About News

    Facebook Killing Hard-To-Find News Tab Because It Says Users Don’t Care About News

    [ad_1]

    Facebook plans to “deprecate” its News tab for users in the United States and Australia by April, according to an announcement published Thursday night. What does that mean? As best we can tell, it means Facebook doesn’t want anyone to use the platform for news anymore and will be killing its dedicated News tab.

    Meta’s Apparent Firing Goof

    “In early April 2024, we will deprecate Facebook News—a dedicated tab in the bookmarks section on Facebook that spotlights news—in the US and Australia. This follows our September 2023 announcement that we deprecated Facebook News in the UK, France and Germany last year,” the unsigned announcement reads.

    Facebook insists users don’t use the social media site for news anyway, claiming that just 3% of what users see globally is news articles.

    “The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the U.S. has dropped by over 80% last year. We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content—they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests,” the announcement continues.

    Why is Facebook saying they’ll “deprecate” the news, a word that seems like an odd choice? Typically, most Americans probably understand the word deprecate as expressing disapproval. Other common definitions include “disparage or belittle,” but Facebook is using the term “deprecate” as a synonym for de-prioritize and phase out. The News tab was already pretty damn de-prioritized if you look at where it shows up already.

    I took the screenshot below to show just how “deprecated” the News tab already is compared with all the other tabs. I had to zoom out on my browser’s perspective to even show the News tab without scrolling down. That part circled in red down there? That’s the News tab.

    A screenshot of Facebook as it exists today, with the News tab circled in red.
    Screenshot: Facebook

    And that prime placement might suggest Facebook users don’t necessarily dislike news. Perhaps they just doesn’t know where to find it.

    The decision to kill the Facebook News tab comes after other Meta properties like Instagram and Threads have made it explicitly clear they don’t want to be in the news business. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said since the introduction of Threads last year that it’s not a place for news.

    Facebook stressed in its announcement on Thursday that news outlets will still be able to share their content on the platform and users will still be allowed to share any news article they like in their own feeds. Facebook also noted they’re still committed to fact-checking claims on the site.

    “This does not impact our commitment to connecting people to reliable information on our platforms. We work with third-party fact-checkers—certified through accreditation bodies like the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network—who review and rate viral misinformation on our apps,” Facebook said.

    “We have built the largest global fact-checking network of any platform by partnering with more than 90 independent fact-checking organizations around the world who review content in more than 60 languages,” the announcement continued.

    Update, 11:10 p.m. ET: Facebook responded to emailed questions Thursday night by confirming its use of the word “deprecate” means “remove.”

    [ad_2]

    Matt Novak

    Source link

  • Instagram head says Threads API is in the works | TechCrunch

    Instagram head says Threads API is in the works | TechCrunch

    [ad_1]

    Instagram head Adam Mosseri said today that a Threads API is in the works. This will give chance to developers to create different apps and experiences around Threads.

    Mosseri was responding to journalist Casey Newton, who was conversing with a user about a TweetDeck-like experience for Threads. The Instagram head expressed apprehension about publishers posting a bunch of content and in turn, overshadowing creator content.

    “We’re working on it. My concern is that it’ll mean a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content, but it still seems like something we need to get done,” Mosseri said in a post.

    Threads have taken a stance on news content by saying it is not “anti-news” but it “won’t actively amplify news.” Historically, news publications have relied on third-party tools and integrations with different social networks to automatically post on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. With the lack of availability of APIs on newer platforms like Threads, publishers have to manually post content, which is not ideal for news organizations posting a bunch of articles per day.

    While Mosseri is concerned about publishers pushing an overwhelming amount of content through API integration, creators also need different tools to post various formats of content. It makes it easier for developers to make features suited for a platform if there is an API integration.

    With social networks such as Twitter (now X) and Reddit making it difficult for third-party developers to create clients, Threads can open up its API for a healthy app ecosystem. Developers have made some clients for rival networks such as Bluesky and Mastodon. However, both networks comparatively have a smaller user base than Threads.

    Earlier this week, Meta said that Threads has just under 100 million monthly active users. An API and a third-party app ecosystem won’t necessarily push that number forward, but it will give ways for people to explore the network in alternative ways. The Threads teams have shipped many features in the last few months post-launch. However, if there is a third-party app ecosystem in place, developers can use various ship features users are looking for.

    What’s more, Meta and Mosseri have talked about integrating Threads with the Fedisverse. So an open ecosystem with a well-maintained API would be a good step towards getting to that goal.

    [ad_2]

    Ivan Mehta

    Source link

  • Threads isn’t dead and it now has polls and GIFs too | TechCrunch

    Threads isn’t dead and it now has polls and GIFs too | TechCrunch

    [ad_1]

    Meta’s X rival, Instagram Threads, is copying a couple more X features today with the launch of support for polls and GIFs. The update comes in rapid succession to other releases for the new app, which have included support for a web version a (free) edit button, profile switching, likes, full-text search, a chronological feed, voice posts, and more. Given the rapid adoption, CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested on a call with investors on Wednesday that Threads could be Meta’s next billion-user app.

    Those projections are somewhat optimistic, given that Threads is now at just under 100 million monthly active users, as Zuckerberg also said. And they don’t take into account the surprising “stickiness” factor of X, which has managed to retain its U.S. power users and increased the time spent by its daily active users, according to at least one report, even though X has declined on other metrics, like overall daily active usage, monthly usage, and website traffic, as other research firms have found.

    Image Credits: screenshot of Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads account

    As Threads looks to find more ways to hook and engage users, it’s racing to add features that Twitter users have come to expect.

    Polls, in particular, have been a popular way to boost engagement on Twitter/X as they allow users who aren’t heavy posters as others to weigh in on a topic and have their voice heard. Those who post polls can attract new followers and take the pulse of a wide group of people without having to run a more formal survey. They can also be used for fun, like asking what to eat for dinner or which movie to see, among other personal questions. X owner Elon Musk, in fact, has regularly used polls to drive decisions about the company’s direction following the acquistion, like whether he should step down as the head of the company, declare amnesty for banned accounts, or bring back Vine, the short video platform Twitter killed off back in 2016.

    On Threads, polls will run for 24 hours and you can control who can respond to the poll, the same way you can control who can reply to a post.

    GIFs, meanwhile, remain of interest to online users as a whole, though younger generations sometimes now see them as “cringe.” Meta itself even acquired a GIF search engine Giphy for $400 million in 2020, but was forced to divest of it due to an antitrust order from the U.K.’s competition authority. Shutterstock bought the site in a deal that valued the company at just $53 million. Giphy, not surprisingly, powers the new GIFs option on Threads.

    While polls and GIFs aren’t the most significant features to add to Threads’ Twitter clone, they’re features that put the app more on par with X and ahead of some other would-be X rivals like the startup Bluesky, which does not yet support GIFs. (Though some of its third-party clients do.) The features appear to be available on the Threads mobile app at present, but not yet on the web.

    There’s much more Threads would have to do to make itself more of an X competitor, of course, beyond just cloning its features — which now include audio and video calls, as of today. X remains a real-time news source and place to discover trends, both of which are a big draw. While Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said Threads would not amplify news on the platform, in its battle with X, Threads was spotted developing a Trending Topics feature that would make it feel more Twitter-like. It’s unclear when or if that feature will launch publicly, however.

    [ad_2]

    Sarah Perez

    Source link

  • How Threads Fumbled Its Product Launch (and 4 Social Media Fails It Resembles) | Entrepreneur

    How Threads Fumbled Its Product Launch (and 4 Social Media Fails It Resembles) | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In November 2022, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, received a late-night call from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (Instagram’s parent company), while on a family vacation in Italy to discuss a plan to build the “Twitter-killer.”

    A month after Elon Musk’s tumultuous $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, Mosseri found himself speaking softly to avoid waking his sleeping wife as he, Zuckerberg, and a few other Meta executives discussed Twitter-like features they could add to Instagram until Zuckerberg said that he had a different idea: “What if we went bigger?”

    On late July 5, 2023, Meta launched a new app called Threads, a standalone Twitter competitor based on Instagram’s account system. Within 2 hours of its launch, Threads had two million downloads, and within five days of its launch, the Twitter (now referred to as X) competitor soared to more than 100 million users. It took Twitter 17 years to reach 368 million active users.

    Related: ‘We’re Not There Yet’: Meta Focuses on User Retention for Threads Amidst Significant Drop in Engagement

    What is the Threads app? Here’s the description according to Meta:

    • Threads is a new app built by the Instagram team for sharing text updates and joining public conversations.
    • You log in using your Instagram account, and posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
    • We’re working to soon make Threads compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the internet.

    Why can Threads be seen as a more attractive alternative to Twitter?

    • Twitter is more toxic than Threads — Users have reported a friendlier atmosphere.
    • Twitter has an inferior verification system.
    • Twitter users want better options — a recent study has found that 25% of current Twitter users are expected to leave within a year.

    However, after becoming one of the fastest-growing apps ever, Threads lost over half its 100 million users just ten days after its launch.

    What seems to be missing on and with Threads?

    • Chronological feed.
    • Search functionality.
    • Trending hashtags.
    • Direct messages.

    But perhaps even more importantly, Threads has had a pretty underwhelming product launch from a marketing standpoint. What’s made Twitter exciting for the past 17 years was seeing and hearing the blue bird logo with “follow me @twitterhandle” on every TV, news show, radio or podcast, resulting in billions of impressions and traffic to the site.

    Outside of the generic press release by Meta, there’s not been much marketing or advertising done to promote the launch of the new social media platform. While I’m hopeful that Threads will find creative ways to attract and retain users, let’s explore four social media companies that failed due to unsuccessful launches.

    Related: If You Don’t Start Using Threads You Will Fall Behind — Here’s Why the New Tech is a Game Changer For Entrepreneurs

    1. Google+: Circles that never fully connected

    In June 2011, Google launched Google+ with high hopes of competing with Facebook. The platform introduced the “Circles” concept, allowing users to group their connections into different categories. However, Google+ failed to resonate with users primarily because it was introduced as an invitation-only service.

    This exclusivity created a perception that it was not easily accessible, and users didn’t find a strong incentive to switch from established platforms like Facebook. Google+ struggled to find its identity and eventually shut down in 2019.

    Lesson: Accessibility is key. Social media platforms must be open and easy to join to attract a broad user base.

    Related: How to Make Your Social Media Channels More Accessible to Everyone

    2. Friendster: First but not the last

    Friendster was one of the earliest social media platforms, launched in 2002. It allowed users to connect with friends, play games and share content. However, its launch was plagued with technical glitches and server issues, leading to frequent downtime. As competition from other platforms emerged, Friendster’s slow response to user feedback and inability to handle its growing user base resulted in a rapid decline in popularity. It eventually closed down in 2011.

    Lesson: Reliability and scalability are crucial for any social media platform to thrive.

    3. Vine: A six-second wonder

    Vine, a short-form video hosting service, gained popularity with its six-second looping videos. Basically TikTok before TikTok. However, despite its initial success, Vine failed to capitalize on its unique format and lacked effective monetization strategies. Additionally, when Instagram and other platforms introduced similar video features, Vine faced tough competition. Twitter, which acquired Vine in 2012, eventually shut down the service in 2017.

    Lesson: Innovation alone isn’t enough; sustainable monetization plans are essential for long-term success.

    4. Ello: The ad-free promise that fell flat

    Ello gained attention in 2014 for its promise of being an ad-free social network, catering to users’ growing concerns about data privacy and intrusive advertising. However, its launch was marred by severe technical issues, limiting users’ ability to invite friends and connect with others. Moreover, Ello struggled to maintain user interest due to its limited features and lack of engaging content. As a result, it failed to build a critical mass of active users and gradually faded away.

    Lesson: Deliver on promises and provide compelling features and content to retain users.

    Social media platforms’ history is filled with success stories and cautionary tales. The platforms mentioned above serve as reminders that a strong launch is critical to establishing a user base and gaining momentum. Accessibility, reliability, scalability, innovation and sustainable monetization strategies are key to achieving social media success.

    [ad_2]

    Kevin Kaminyar

    Source link

  • 3 Steps to Redefining Your Personal Brand with Threads | Entrepreneur

    3 Steps to Redefining Your Personal Brand with Threads | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Meta’s Threads is a revolutionary new platform that changes how our society communicates digitally. In the world of branding, Threads emerges as a new opportunity for thought leaders to redefine their brands.

    In today’s world, developing and managing this brand is more important to staying ahead of the competition. To utilize Threads, leaders must understand how to leverage this emerging platform to benefit their brands and engage with their communities seamlessly and effectively. So how is this done? By focusing on the narrative, what conversations to have, and what really matters in the end, you.

    Related: If You Don’t Start Using Threads You Will Fall Behind — Here’s Why the New Tech is a Game Changer For Entrepreneurs

    Step 1: Craft a compelling brand narrative

    Your community looks to you for information, ideas and direction in their times of need. For you to maintain your status and trust, all public communication must be kept authentic and aligned across all of your public platforms. Doing so enforces this brand narrative and helps to build a bigger community of true, trusted followers.

    Threads is key to this step because their seamless operation makes it easier than ever for you to share all of your thoughts and opinions in a casual forum. Your existing audience will follow you to Threads, and they get to see a new side of you that engages in forum conversations that matter to you. Keep your narrative and messaging authentic by sharing values, visions and personal and professional goals so your audience will grow to trust and support you more than they already do. This narrative is key to distinguishing you from your competition.

    Ask yourself: What is my unique perspective? By exploring a different side of your brand that you may not have shared before, you will connect with your audience on a deeper level. Using your own unique experiences, take the time to articulate your professional journey. Share the key milestones, challenges and lessons that you learned along the way. Out of this comes trust and credibility, which are two of the most important aspects of being a successful thought leader.

    Related: Threads Struggles to Sustain Engagement Following the Explosive Surge in Users Upon Launch

    Step 2: Engage in meaningful conversations

    Engaging with your audience is key to maintaining your personal brand, but engaging in meaningful conversations helps even more. Start off by keeping up with replying to messages, comments, questions and any mentions across your social platforms. Staying engaged, even generally, with your community of trusted followers makes them feel even more connected to you as their thought leader.

    Next, engage in conversations aligning with your brand narrative and ideals. Threads is the perfect platform to easily engage with your audience because of the seamlessness of operation. As it says in the name, conversations continue on a “thread” for anyone to interact with. Your audience can see a step-by-step breakdown of any meaningful conversation you engage with on threads, and you can promote it for all to get involved. The fact that Threads was created as a way to streamline communication with your pre-existing network is what makes it so perfect for expanding a personal brand.

    When engaging with your community in any capacity, remember to stay true to yourself and your brand and stay informed. Making sure you are personally up to date with your industry’s most hot-topic conversations will make engaging easier than ever. To do this, regularly monitor relevant discussions and threads to identify areas where you can contribute your perspectives and insights. Keep an eye on trending hashtags and conversations across all platforms so that you are prepared for any conversation. By sharing valuable information that resonates with your community, you can establish yourself as a go-to resource for industry-related knowledge.

    Another important aspect of engaging with your community is offering genuine value to your audience. Ensure you keep your audience in mind when crafting thoughtful questions that spark meaningful conversations. Then, encourage others to share their thoughts and experiences. By actively listening to the responses and providing guidance where appropriate, you can further establish yourself as a trusted authority and resource.

    Related: How Threads is Transforming Social Media as We Know It

    Step 3: Leverage multimedia to showcase your expertise

    The last step in elevating your personal brand with Threads is sharing multimedia that can enhance your branding and conversations. Threads offers easy sharing of photos, up to five-minute videos and links to showcase information in different ways alongside your compelling copy.

    With a new platform in play, take this chance to showcase special projects, innovations or achievements. Utilize threads to show your network all that you have to offer. Visual storytelling and teaching through your photos on Threads can also be very helpful, so think about leveraging infographics or data visualization when engaging in meaningful conversations. These visual aids can make complex information and topics that are sometimes discussed in industry-related conversations easily digestible.

    Sharing videos is also an extremely helpful form of digital communication on Threads. The five-minute video feature allows you to share informational videos in a short form but still thoroughly explain a topic. You can provide valuable insights, demonstrate your skills, or share industry tips. These videos can be a powerful tool for establishing yourself as an expert in your field and showcasing your unique knowledge and experience.

    Lastly, Threads is unique in its ability to allow for link-sharing. Posting links in an Instagram caption does not hyperlink them directly to the source like Threads. With this feature, you can include articles, sources, news stories, podcasts, videos and an array of additional media in your post. This feature helps to provide context and information when engaging in conversations and allows you to show off any media placements, news, or awards you have achieved. This addition helps solidify your trust and credibility as a thought leader and makes sharing information seamless.

    All you have to do is start a Thread.

    [ad_2]

    Raoul Davis

    Source link

  • Threads user count falls to new lows, highlighting retention challenges | CNN Business

    Threads user count falls to new lows, highlighting retention challenges | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    Washington, DC
    CNN
     — 

    Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is struggling to retain users roughly a month after its highly publicized launch, according to fresh industry estimates showing that app engagement has fallen to new lows.

    The data from market research firms Similarweb and Sensor Tower highlight the challenges facing Meta as it seeks to exploit the opening created by the chaos surrounding Twitter’s management.

    Threads’ daily active user count is down 82% from launch as of July 31, according to Sensor Tower, with just eight million users accessing the app each day. That is the lowest it has been since the day after the app’s release when daily active users peaked at roughly 44 million, Sensor Tower said.

    People are also opening the app less frequently and spending less time there, Sensor Tower added.

    On its launch day, Threads users opened the app an average of 14 times and spent an average of 19 minutes scrolling through it, the company reported. By the end of the month, however, those figures had fallen sharply.

    As of August 1, Threads’ daily average time spent fell to just 2.9 minutes a day, and people spent only 2.6 sessions per day using the app, said Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower.

    Findings from Similarweb showed the same pattern of decline. Threads’ user count peaked at roughly 49 million on July 7, the day after launch, and fell steadily to just over 11 million by July 29, said David Carr, a senior insights manager at Similarweb.

    The steepest drop-off occurred in the two weeks immediately following Threads’ launch. But the new data show how the decline has continued and is ongoing.

    According to Sensor Tower, Threads’ daily active user count is still falling at a rate of roughly 1% per day.

    Speaking on the company’s earnings call last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was “quite optimistic” about the app.

    “We saw unprecedented growth out of the gate and more importantly we’re seeing more people coming back daily than I’d expected,” he said. “And now, we’re focused on retention and improving the basics. And then after that, we’ll focus on growing the community to the scale we think is possible.”

    Threads launched with only a handful of features and later promised to add in highly requested tools like a reverse-chronological content feed, a desktop version of the app and direct messages.

    On July 10, Zuckerberg announced that more than 100 million people had signed up for Threads, making it one of the fastest-growing apps in history. The company has reportedly looked into adding “retention-driving hooks” that can keep users engaged.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • X is ‘close to breakeven’ says CEO Linda Yaccarino | CNN Business

    X is ‘close to breakeven’ says CEO Linda Yaccarino | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    X CEO Linda Yaccarino, leader of the platform formerly known as Twitter, said the company is keeping an eye on new competitor Threads, despite the sharply slowing growth of the rival app from Meta.

    “Threads did jump in with a ton of hype and a launch pad from their Instagram users … [but] it’s dropped off dramatically,” Yaccarino told CNBC Thursday in her first interview as CEO of the company now called X.

    “But you can never, ever take your eye off any competition because they’ll continue iterating and as much as the launch has stalled, we’re keeping an eye on everything that they’re doing.”

    Still, Yaccarino said X remains largely focused on its own future as the company chases profitability, and that Threads may be looking at its past.

    “What we can see is that [Threads] may be building to what Twitter was — enter rebrand, enter X — and we’re focused on what X will be, and it’s an entirely different roadmap and vision,” she said.

    Staving off competition from Meta’s Threads and other rival platforms is just one of the things Yaccarino is now tasked with after taking over from owner Elon Musk as X’s CEO in June. In just her first two months, the company underwent a massive rebrand from Twitter to X in hopes of transforming into an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat, and has continued to warn of challenges reviving its core advertising business. Musk, who is now the company’s chief technology officer, has also been preparing for a cage fight with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

    Yaccarino joined the company after months of turmoil caused by Musk’s takeover, including mass layoffs, controversial policy decisions and various legal battles.

    But on Thursday, she doubled down on the company’s vision and explained why it retired its highly recognized brand name.

    “The rebrand really represented a liberation from Twitter, a liberation that allows us to evolve past a legacy mindset and to reimagine how everyone … around the world is going to change how we congregate, how we transact, all in one place,” Yaccarino said, adding that users would soon be able to make video calls and payments through the platform.

    “It’s developing into this global town square that is fueled by free expression, where the public gathers in real time,” she said.

    Yaccarino said that the company is returning to growth mode after months of slashing costs through ongoing layoffs, infrastructure and office space reductions and, in some cases, allegedly holding back on paying its bills and employee severance. Twitter’s staff has shrunk from nearly 8,000 employees to just around 1,500 workers since Musk’s takeover, Yaccarino said.

    “Are we hiring? Yes,” Yaccarino said. “I get to come in and shift from this cost discipline to growth … the future is bright.”

    Threatening to stand in the way of that evolution are the company’s very real business challenges. Musk last month disclosed in a post that, due to a 50% drop in advertising revenue and a “heavy debt load,” the platform is still losing money. After Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, the company’s value now stands around $15 billion, according to a May disclosure from a Fidelity fund.

    Yaccarino, a former marketing executive with NBCUniversal, was brought on to Twitter in part to help revive its advertising business. And she said on Thursday that the company is “close to breakeven.”

    “Coca Cola, Visa, State Farm is a huge partner, they’re coming back — the last bunch of weeks, continued revenue growth,” Yaccarino said.

    But maintaining the ad business has been an uphill battle for the site since Musk’s takeover. Hordes of advertisers halted spending on the platform over concerns about content moderation, mass layoffs and general uncertainty about the company’s future. Musk has also defended his own controversial tweets, telling CNBC in May, “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”

    Yaccarino pointed to the company’s “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach” policy that aims to limit the reach of so-called lawful but awful content on the platform and to protect brands from having their ads appear alongside such content. X on Tuesday rolled out additional brand safety controls for advertisers, including the ability to avoid having their ads show next to “targeted hate speech, sexual content, gratuitous gore, excessive profanity, obscenity, spam, drugs.”

    “I wrap my security blanket around you, my brand and my CMO, and say your ads will only air next to content that is appropriate for you,” Yaccarino said Thursday.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Meta’s Threads is finally available on desktop | CNN Business

    Meta’s Threads is finally available on desktop | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Threads users, rejoice: the app is rolling out its highly anticipated web version Tuesday.

    The update — perhaps the most requested by users since Threads’ mobile-only launch last month — puts the new platform one step closer to recreating the functions offered by rival X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and could help reignite user growth following a sluggish period.

    Parent company Meta says Threads users will soon be able to log in, post, view and interact with other posts via a browser on a desktop computer, as the web version rolls out to users in the coming days. The company says it plans to add more desktop features in the future. In an early access test of some of the web-based features, CNN was able to post on the platform but could not yet scroll the home feed.

    Threads launched in early July with stunning success, garnering more than 100 million sign-ups in its first week on the back of months of chaos at Twitter. But the buzz faded somewhat as users realized the bare-bones platform still lacked many of the features that made Twitter popular, such as trending topics, robust search functions and direct messaging. Threads has been steadily rolling out smaller updates but the hotly demanded web version could help reignite stronger user engagement.

    The new web version could also raise fresh competitive concerns for X, after owner Elon Musk sparked user backlash last week by suggesting he might do away with the platform’s block feature.

    Meta employees have for weeks teased that a desktop version of Threads was in the works and being tested internally. Just last week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who is also leading Threads, said he had been posting from the platform’s desktop version and suggested “it’ll be ready soon but it needs more work.”

    Web access is just one of a series of recent updates to Threads as Meta continues to build out the new platform. Other features added over the past month include new “reposts” and “likes” tabs that show users the posts they have reshared and liked in their profiles, a chronological following feed and a button to share threads posts to Instagram DMs.

    Continued updates to Threads are essential if Meta wants to maintain the early traction it had with users. Despite the app’s stunning success following its launch, by the end of July, Threads’ daily active user count had fallen 82% to around 8 million users, according to a report from market research firm Sensor Tower earlier this month. By August 16, updates to Threads had helped the app notch slight gains to 11 million daily active users, Sensor Tower said in a report Monday.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he is “quite optimistic” about the app’s potential.

    “We saw unprecedented growth out of the gate and more importantly we’re seeing more people coming back daily than I’d expected,” he said last month during the company’s earnings call. “And now, we’re focused on retention and improving the basics. And then after that, we’ll focus on growing the community to the scale we think is possible.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Meta’s Threads is temporarily blocking searches about Covid-19 | CNN Business

    Meta’s Threads is temporarily blocking searches about Covid-19 | CNN Business

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Threads, the much-hyped social media app from Facebook-parent Meta, is taking heat for blocking searches for “coronavirus,” “Covid,” and other pandemic-related queries.

    The tech giant’s decision to block coronavirus-related searches on its service comes as the United States deals with a recent uptick in Covid-19 hospitalizations, per CDC data, and more than three years into the global pandemic.

    News of Threads blocking searches related to the coronavirus was first reported by The Washington Post.

    A Meta spokesperson told CNN that the company just began rolling out keyword search for Threads to additional countries last week.

    “The search functionality temporarily doesn’t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content,” the statement added. “People will be able to search for keywords such as ‘COVID’ in future updates once we are confident in the quality of the results.” 

    As of Monday, searches on the Threads app conducted by CNN for “coronavirus,” “Covid” and “Covid-19” yielded a blank page with the text: “No results.” Searches for “vaccine” also prompted no results. Typing any of these queries into the Threads app does, however, offer a link directing users to the CDC’s website on Covid-19 or vaccinations, depending on the search.

    Meta did not disclose what other keyword searches currently yield no results.

    Meta’s Facebook and other social media platforms faced controversy in the early part of the pandemic for the apparent spread of Covid-19-related misinformation online.

    Meta officially launched Threads in early July, and the app quickly garnered more than 100 million sign-ups in its first week on the heels of months of chaos at Twitter, which is now known as X. But much of the buzz faded somewhat in the weeks that followed as users realized the bare-bones platform still lacked many of the features that made X popular with users.

    Threads released its much-requested web version late last month, and its keyword search about a week ago. But the current limitations around its search function highlights how the platform still has some kinks to work through before it can fully replace the real-time search and engagement experience that social media users have historically relied on with X.

    –CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Bye-bye birdie: Twitter jettisons bird logo, replaces it with

    Bye-bye birdie: Twitter jettisons bird logo, replaces it with

    [ad_1]

    Twitter launched its new logo on Monday, replacing the blue bird with a white X on a black background as the Elon Musk-owned company moves toward rebranding as X.

    The social media network’s website showed the company’s new logo, but its URL was still showing as twitter.com and the blue “Tweet” button was visible, suggesting the rebrand wasn’t finalized yet.

    Twitter
    In this photo illustration, Elon Musk’s photo is displayed on a phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying the new logo of “Twitter” in Ankara, Turkey on July 24, 2023.

    Emin Sansar / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


    Musk and the company’s new chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, announced the rebranding Sunday, saying the company would be renamed X and move later into payments, banking, and commerce.

    Founded in 2006, Twitter takes its name from the sound of birds chattering and used avian branding since its early days, when the company bought a stock symbol of a light blue bird for $15, according to the design website Creative Bloq.

    Musk changed his profile picture late Sunday to the company’s new logo, which he described as “minimalist art deco,” and updated his Twitter bio to “X.com,” which now redirects to twitter.com.

    He also tweeted that under the site’s new identity, a post would be called “an X.”

    Musk had already named Twitter’s parent company the X Corporation and has said his takeover of the social media giant was “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” — a reference to the X.com company he founded in 1999, a later version of which went on to become online payments giant PayPal.

    Such an app could still function as a social media platform and also include messaging and mobile payments.

    Musk had previously said he wanted to create a super-app modeled on China’s WeChat, a social media platform that also offers messaging and mobile payments.

    “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success,” he told a company town hall meeting in June last year.

    The new logo was projected onto the facade of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Sunday night.

    Twitter's new logo is seen projected on the corporate headquarters building in downtown San Francisco, California
    Twitter’s new logo is seen projected on the corporate headquarters building in downtown San Francisco on July 23, 2023.

    CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS


     “Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” Yaccarino tweeted earlier.

    Yaccarino, a former advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal who Musk hired last month to be Twitter’s CEO, said the social media platform was on the cusp of broadening its scope.

    “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she said.

    Simon Kemp, CEO of digital consultancy Kepios, said he was skeptical that Twitter could evolve into a super-app.

    “Given how Musk has treated Twitter’s own employees since the acquisition, I don’t imagine many developers will rush to build third-party apps to integrate into the Twitter ecosystem unless Musk can offer outstanding incentives, and that’ll be extra tricky given the company’s existing debt.”

    But he also said the platform had the potential to become “a great (global and paid) news aggregator.”

    Since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, the platform’s advertising business has partially collapsed as marketers soured on Musk’s management style and mass firings at the company that gutted content moderation.

    In response, the billionaire SpaceX boss has moved toward introducing payments and commerce through the platform, in a search for new revenue.

    Twitter is thought to have around 200 million daily active users but has suffered repeated technical failures since Musk sacked much of its staff.

    Many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the social media site’s new charges for previously free services, its changes to content moderation, and the return of previously banned right-wing accounts.

    Musk said this month that Twitter had lost roughly half of its advertising revenue since he took control.

    Facebook parent Meta also launched its text-based platform this month, called Threads, which has up to 150 million users according to some estimates.

    But the amount of time users spend on the rival app has plummeted in the weeks since its launch, according to data from market analysis firm Sensor Tower. 

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Bye-bye birdie: Twitter jettisons bird logo, replaces it with

    Bye-bye birdie: Twitter jettisons bird logo, replaces it with

    [ad_1]


    Twitter rebrands as X

    00:28

    Twitter launched its new logo on Monday, replacing the blue bird with a white X on a black background as the Elon Musk-owned company moves toward rebranding as X.

    The social media network’s website showed the company’s new logo, but its URL was still showing as twitter.com and the blue “Tweet” button was visible, suggesting the rebrand wasn’t finalized yet.

    Twitter
    In this photo illustration, Elon Musk’s photo is displayed on a phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying the new logo of “Twitter” in Ankara, Turkey on July 24, 2023.

    Emin Sansar / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


    Musk and the company’s new chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, announced the rebranding Sunday, saying the company would be renamed X and move later into payments, banking, and commerce.

    Founded in 2006, Twitter takes its name from the sound of birds chattering and used avian branding since its early days, when the company bought a stock symbol of a light blue bird for $15, according to the design website Creative Bloq.

    Musk changed his profile picture late Sunday to the company’s new logo, which he described as “minimalist art deco,” and updated his Twitter bio to “X.com,” which now redirects to twitter.com.

    He also tweeted that under the site’s new identity, a post would be called “an X.”

    Musk had already named Twitter’s parent company the X Corporation and has said his takeover of the social media giant was “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” — a reference to the X.com company he founded in 1999, a later version of which went on to become online payments giant PayPal.

    Such an app could still function as a social media platform and also include messaging and mobile payments.

    Musk had previously said he wanted to create a super-app modeled on China’s WeChat, a social media platform that also offers messaging and mobile payments.

    “You basically live on WeChat in China because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success,” he told a company town hall meeting in June last year.

    The new logo was projected onto the facade of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Sunday night.

    Twitter's new logo is seen projected on the corporate headquarters building in downtown San Francisco, California
    Twitter’s new logo is seen projected on the corporate headquarters building in downtown San Francisco on July 23, 2023.

    CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS


     “Powered by AI, X will connect us in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” Yaccarino tweeted earlier.

    Yaccarino, a former advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal who Musk hired last month to be Twitter’s CEO, said the social media platform was on the cusp of broadening its scope.

    “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she said.

    Simon Kemp, CEO of digital consultancy Kepios, said he was skeptical that Twitter could evolve into a super-app.

    “Given how Musk has treated Twitter’s own employees since the acquisition, I don’t imagine many developers will rush to build third-party apps to integrate into the Twitter ecosystem unless Musk can offer outstanding incentives, and that’ll be extra tricky given the company’s existing debt.”

    But he also said the platform had the potential to become “a great (global and paid) news aggregator.”

    Since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, the platform’s advertising business has partially collapsed as marketers soured on Musk’s management style and mass firings at the company that gutted content moderation.

    In response, the billionaire SpaceX boss has moved toward introducing payments and commerce through the platform, in a search for new revenue.

    Twitter is thought to have around 200 million daily active users but has suffered repeated technical failures since Musk sacked much of its staff.

    Many users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the social media site’s new charges for previously free services, its changes to content moderation, and the return of previously banned right-wing accounts.

    Musk said this month that Twitter had lost roughly half of its advertising revenue since he took control.

    Facebook parent Meta also launched its text-based platform this month, called Threads, which has up to 150 million users according to some estimates.

    But the amount of time users spend on the rival app has plummeted in the weeks since its launch, according to data from market analysis firm Sensor Tower. 

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Why Meta’s Threads is a Game-Changing Innovation For Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

    Why Meta’s Threads is a Game-Changing Innovation For Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In the ever-evolving world of entrepreneurship, innovation is the name of the game. And when it comes to game-changing innovations, few can match the impact of Meta Threads. This revolutionary concept is transforming how entrepreneurs operate, offering a new level of efficiency and effectiveness. But what exactly are META Threads, and how are they changing the game for entrepreneurs? Let’s dive in and find out.

    Related: Threads to Implement Changes to Common Complaints After Hitting 100 Million Users

    The genesis of Meta Threads

    The inception of Meta Threads is rooted in the need for a more efficient and effective way of doing business. Entrepreneurs were seeking a tool that could streamline their operations, enhance productivity, and ultimately drive growth. Meta Threads emerged as the answer to these needs, offering a new approach to entrepreneurship.

    Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has expressed his thoughts on Meta Threads in various public forums. He has shown a positive outlook on the potential of Meta Threads to revolutionize the way businesses operate.

    In a post on his Threads account, Zuckerberg revealed that Meta Threads had far exceeded their expectations, with a whopping 70 million sign-ups as of that morning. This number was significantly higher than they had anticipated, indicating the immense popularity and acceptance of META Threads among entrepreneurs and businesses.

    Related: Jack Dorsey Blasts Mark Zuckerberg Over Threads Follow Request: ‘Too Soon’

    Understanding the Concept of META Threads

    Meta Threads is a complex concept, but at its core, it’s about creating a network of interconnected ideas, strategies and actions. It’s about weaving together different aspects of a business to create a cohesive and efficient whole. This concept is embodied in the latest creation from Meta, a colossal corporation that holds ownership of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. They have developed a fresh microblogging platform known as Threads, designed to facilitate the sharing of text updates and public conversations.

    Threads is a real-time, text-based platform promoting public conversations and community building. It prioritizes safety, accessibility and interoperability, aiding businesses to connect with customers and expand. Meta aims to enhance Threads based on user feedback. If successful, Threads could generate substantial ad revenue through targeted advertising, attracting advertisers. Despite being new, Threads has over 70 million sign-ups, showing its potential. It plans to be compatible with an open social networking protocol to increase its utility and reach.

    The role of Meta Threads in entrepreneurship

    Meta Threads play a pivotal role in entrepreneurship. It allows entrepreneurs to streamline operations, enhance productivity and drive growth. It’s a tool that enables entrepreneurs to operate more efficiently and effectively.

    Threads offer features like liking, commenting and reposting, which enable direct engagement with your audience. This allows entrepreneurs to build a strong rapport with their customers, fostering a sense of community and loyalty. The platform provides a direct line of communication, allowing businesses to respond to customer comments, answer their questions and receive feedback in real time. This direct engagement can lead to improved customer relationships and business performance.

    META Threads has a profound impact on business operations. It streamlines processes, enhances efficiency and boosts productivity. It’s a game-changer that is transforming the way businesses operate.

    Streamlining Operations in a Tech Startup

    Consider a tech startup that is juggling multiple projects simultaneously. The team is struggling to keep track of all the tasks, deadlines and responsibilities. This is where Meta Threads comes into play. By creating a network of interconnected ideas, strategies and actions, Threads allows the startup to streamline its operations. It provides a clear overview of all the ongoing projects, making it easier for the team to manage their tasks and meet their deadlines. As a result, the startup can operate more efficiently and effectively, leading to enhanced productivity and growth.

    Enhancing productivity in a marketing agency

    Now, let’s take the example of a marketing agency that is working with several clients. The agency needs to develop and implement marketing strategies for each client, which can be a complex and time-consuming process. With Meta Threads, the agency can streamline this process. It can create a network of interconnected strategies for each client, making it easier to develop and implement these strategies. This enhances the agency’s productivity and improves the quality of its services, leading to increased client satisfaction and business growth.

    Transforming operations in a manufacturing company

    Finally, consider a manufacturing company that is struggling with inefficient processes. The company is wasting resources and time due to these inefficiencies, which is affecting its bottom line. META Threads can transform the company’s operations by streamlining these processes. It can create a network of interconnected actions that make the manufacturing process more efficient. This reduces waste, saves time, and boosts the company’s productivity, leading to increased profits.

    What is the future of entrepreneurship with Meta Threads?

    The future of entrepreneurship with META Threads is bright. This innovative concept redefines the entrepreneurial landscape, ushering in a new era of efficiency, productivity and growth. META Threads, a new “conversation” app launched by Meta, has shown promising signs of becoming a game-changer in the world of social media and entrepreneurship. It added 30 million users on its first day, demonstrating the potential for rapid growth and widespread adoption. The app’s unique feature of allowing users to control their algorithms and the content they see has been a significant factor in its success. This decentralization fosters a more competitive environment, enabling small startups to compete with established giants on a level playing field.

    Related: ‘We Want To Do It Differently’: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk Continue Feud as Meta Launches ‘Threads’

    Is Threads suitable for all types of businesses?

    Yes, Meta Threads is suitable for all types of businesses. It’s a versatile tool that can be adapted to suit the needs of any business, regardless of its size or industry.

    The real-life examples of a tech startup, a marketing agency and a manufacturing company demonstrate the practical applications of Threads. Threads has proven to be a game-changer in each case, enabling these businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively.

    Whether it’s managing multiple projects in a startup, developing and implementing marketing strategies in an agency, or improving manufacturing processes in a company, Meta Threads has shown its potential to revolutionize business operations.

    Therefore, it’s clear that Threads is not just a buzzword; it’s a pivotal tool for entrepreneurs. It’s a game-changing innovation set to redefine the entrepreneurial landscape, ushering in a new era of efficiency, productivity and growth. Entrepreneurs and businesses that embrace Meta Threads will undoubtedly be better equipped to navigate the complexities of the business world and achieve their growth objectives.

    [ad_2]

    Gajura Constantin

    Source link

  • Musk reveals Twitter ad revenue is down 50% as social media competition mounts

    Musk reveals Twitter ad revenue is down 50% as social media competition mounts

    [ad_1]

    Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social media company’s advertising revenue has plunged roughly 50%, highlighting his struggle to revive the ailing company after buying it for $44 billion. 

    The stark admission came in response to a comment by another Twitter user who suggested the billionaire form a consortium to buy the platform’s debt.

    “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” the billionaire replied on Saturday.

    Twitter’s ad-portal traffic plunged 20.6% in June 2023 from the year before, according to data from Similarweb, which analyzes advertising portals as “an indicator of business momentum.” Overall traffic on the platform has declined steadily since January, falling 5.8% as of June. Engagement on Twitter’s app also fell during that same period, from roughly 88 million users to 83 million, or 5.5%. 

    Musk, who purchased Twitter in 2022, said in March that he believed the platform would break even or perhaps even see a positive cash flow by June of this year, the Financial Times reported.

    Threads enters the chat

    Meanwhile, Meta this month debuted a social media app called Threads that the social media giant describes as “Instagram’s text-based conversation app.”

    The new service, which reached more than 100 million signups the first weekend after its release, has been dubbed the “Twitter killer” by some social media users because of the expectation that many people will migrate away from Twitter in favor of the new social media service. 

    “It seems like some more negative sentiment [among users and advertisers] has set in,” Similarweb Senior Insights Manager David Carr told CBS MoneyWatch. “People are saying, ‘I don’t know if we need to be [on Twitter] anymore.’”

    Driving users to competitors

    To be sure, Twitter was experiencing operational challenges long before its acquisition by Musk. Since taking control of the reins, however, Musk has been making changes to the social network that have driven away advertisers and alienated some users. 

    “[Musk] just changed the rules … and a lot of people just got exhausted with it,” Futurum CEO Daniel Newman told CBS MoneyWatch. 

    One of the first alterations to Twitter imposed by the outspoken tech billionaire and self-described “free speech absolutist” was to roll back content moderation, a move that a Tufts University study found fueled a rise in hate speech on the platform. He also reinstated previously banned accounts of polarizing public figures including former President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. 


    Threads, Twitter and the saturation of social media

    04:15

    “You have a divisive leader, questionable politics from the person that runs the company…[and] a subset of other potential alternatives that have come into the market,” Newman said. “You put those all together and you get a [traffic] decline.”

    Musk’s recent decision to temporarily throttle usage for some nonpaying members, limiting free accounts to reading 600 tweets per day, sparked intense backlash.

    “[The rate limit] was spitting in the face of the most active and engaged users,” Carr said. “That gives people a reason to go, ‘you know, I’m going to check out this Mastodon thing I’ve been hearing,’or ‘I’m going to try and get on the Bluesky waitlist.’”

    On the Sunday after Twitter announced rate limits on free accounts, traffic on competitor Mastodon’s website, mastodon.social, shot up 18%, Similarweb data shows. Traffic on the waitlist website for Bluesky Social, another Twitter rival, peaked at more than 750,000 daily visits during that same weekend, up from less than 100,000 views a day prior to Twitter’s rate-limit announcement.

    Still the reigning platform

    Not all Twitter’s changes under Musk have sent people running, however. During the past year, Twitter introduced an edit button and increased the character limit for tweets. Those features, however, are only available to account holders who pay between $8 and $11 a month for Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription service, which may have driven some users away, Newman said.

    And while Twitter copycats may momentarily drive declines in Twitter’s traffic, it’s too soon to tell how long that drop will last, according to Newman. 

    Attracting the number of users and types of breaking news content that made Twitter popular with journalists and news junkies will not be easy, he said. And while Threads garnered more than 100 million sign-ups just days after its launch on July 5, some stats indicate that user interest in the app may be dropping off.

    Threads users spent an average of 7 minutes on the app on July 11, down from 21 minutes on July 6, the day after the app launched, Similarweb data shows.  

    “It’s very early to suggest that Meta is going to take down Twitter,” Newman said. “If a $20 billion early loss in value can’t take [Twitter] down, I don’t know what will.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Threads Is Already Making Changes Amid Meta’s Twitter Fight | Entrepreneur

    Threads Is Already Making Changes Amid Meta’s Twitter Fight | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    At first, I wasn’t going to sign up for Threads — then I did. Then my friends did. And my co-workers. And my dad, whose first thread was about how “stoked” he was to be there.

    While I have yet to fully submerge myself into the…thread-sphere? Thread-a-verse? The sheer simplicity of joining (you can sign up with a single click if you link through Instagram) made it all too easy to hop on — apparently for millions of others, too.

    Threads, the text-based app by Meta, has rapidly gained popularity since its launch less than a week ago to the surprise of Meta employees. The company reportedly anticipated millions of users, not 100 million, which it garnered in just five days, making it the fastest-growing platform ever, according to data from Quiver Quantitative.

    Related: Analysts Say ‘Twitter’s Traffic Is Tanking’ as Threads Hits 100 Million Users

    “I never thought I’d want Zuckerberg to beat Twitter, but here we are,” a former Twitter employee told Business Insider, with another source adding that Threads is the “first legit competitor” to Twitter.

    “I’m so surprised. Everyone is,” a Meta employee told the outlet.

    Still, it’s not perfect, and users have been calling out the platform for its flaws, including the lack of a chronological feed, showing posts from accounts users follow, the absence of direct messaging, and the inability to see which posts a user has already liked — a feature I often utilize on Twitter to return to an account or remind myself to read something later.

    Responding to the feedback, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, confirmed that a chronological feed is in the works and is among several planned updates for Threads, BBC reported, including the ability to edit a post, language translation, easier account switching, improvements to the desktop interface, and a “more robust search function.”

    Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in October 2022, made a series of changes to the app (most of which have been met with scathing feedback from users) and has found himself on the defensive. With only five days since the launch, Musk has engaged in a heated exchange with Zuckerberg via cease-and-desist letters and social media posts (all of which are very public, and very embarrassing).

    Elon Musk has directly called out Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg following the launch of Threads. Mandel Ngan | Getty Images

    Threads is not a perfect app, but let’s face it: It had impeccable timing. The app emerged as many many Twitter users were already on their way out.

    Related: Elon Musk Jet-Tracking Account Joins Threads After It Was Permanently Suspended From Twitter

    In truth, I miss the old Twitter, and if anything, Threads makes me miss it more. I’m still on the platform — well, both platforms now — it’s just…different. Neither feels quite “right.” Threads may be a viable alternative, but until Meta addresses the much-needed updates — or until Twitter gets its act together — I’ll be on the sidelines, keeping whatever bite-size thoughts I once would have shared with the internet in my head (far away from both Musk and Zuckerberg).

    Wall Street, however, is definitely on board. Analysts anticipate Threads to become a lucrative source of revenue for Meta, potentially generating $8 billion annually if it reaches 200 million users, per Bloomberg.

    [ad_2]

    Madeline Garfinkle

    Source link

  • ‘Twitter’s Traffic Is Tanking’ as Threads Hits 100 Million Users | Entrepreneur

    ‘Twitter’s Traffic Is Tanking’ as Threads Hits 100 Million Users | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Meta’s new app Threads may not yet be the “Twitter killer” that some social media denizens claim, but industry analysts say its launch last week is seriously hurting Twitter’s numbers.

    Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said on Monday that Threads has already hit 100 million downloads.

    Meanwhile, traffic to Twitter is “tanking,” according to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who Tweeted a chart of Twitter’s domain ranking dropping over the weekend.

    According to Similar Web, a website analysis and market intelligence platform, traffic to Twitter’s website dropped 5% during the first few days of Threads’ rollout.

    The gloves are off

    Threads’ surprising early success has caused a contentious relationship between Twitter’s Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to unravel completely.

    Last week, Twitter’s CEO threatened to sue Meta, claiming that the new platform copied Twitter.

    “Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro wrote.

    Over the weekend, Musk aimed his ire straight at Zuckerberg, tweeting, “Zuck is a cuck,” and proposing “a literal dick measuring contest.”

    So far, Zuckerberg hasn’t taken the bait, preferring to point to Threads’ impressive numbers than to spar with Musk — although he did agree to a cage match last week.

    In a Threads post, Zuck boasted that Threads signups were the result of “mostly organic demand, and we haven’t even turned on many promotions yet.”

    But despite the colorful barbs and taunts between billionaires, the jury is still out on the real impact Threads will have on Twitter’s bottom line.

    Sure, 100 million users in 4 days is an astonishing achievement, but it’s still far from Twitter’s 354 million active users. And just because everyone’s checking out the shiny new car on the lot doesn’t mean they’ll stick around after the test drive.

    “Whether they actually become engaged users or not, it will take a while to know,” said Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney told The Wall Street Journal.

    [ad_2]

    Jonathan Small

    Source link

  • New Twitter alternative, Threads, could eclipse rivals like Mastodon and Blue Sky

    New Twitter alternative, Threads, could eclipse rivals like Mastodon and Blue Sky

    [ad_1]

    As Twitter faces mounting backlash over its latest policy changes, alternative apps like Blue Sky and Mastodon are standing by to welcome disgruntled users of the Elon Musk-owned blogging platform. Yet while these fledgling communities for now remain bit players on the social scene, Meta’s new Threads app may finally offer a real competitor to Twitter, experts say.

    Threads, which launched on Wednesday, is integrated with Instagram and is backed by Meta’s vast technical and financial resources, potent advantages that have helped it quickly acquire tens of millions of users. But whether the platform can retain those users will depend on its ability to roll out features that appeal to Twitter defectors and replicate the app’s pre-Musk culture.


    Twitter limits daily posts users can view

    03:52

    A matter of timing

    Meta launched Threads ahead of schedule on July 5, shortly after Twitter sparked an uproar by placing daily limits on the number of posts its account holders could access. The company’s speedy roll out meant that Threads debuted without popular features like personalized feeds, making it tough to predict the long-term success of the app, David Karpf, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, told CBS MoneyWatch.

    “There’s still a lot we don’t know about the app because they rolled out kind of half-finished,” Karpf said. “Twitter was just looking so incredibly vulnerable that if Meta was going to build a replacement [platform], now was the time to roll it out.”

    The timing of the launch has been a boon for Threads, however. Users’ frustrations with Twitter spurred immediate interest in the app, bringing its signups to more than 70 million within days of its debut. That’s more than current user numbers of Mastodon and Blue Sky combined. 


    Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, gains 10 million users in under 24 hours, Zuckerberg says

    05:29

    Cheaper than the Metaverse

    The rapidly growing user base could soon bring in much-needed advertising revenue for Threads, allowing the app to fund its own development. However, the service debuted without ads, and until it introduces advertising, Meta can easily finance its operations. 

    “If Mark Zuckerberg can spend $10 to $15 billion a year trying to build the metaverse, he can definitely spend a lot less than that trying to kill Twitter,” Karpf said. 

    That access to billions of dollars gives Threads an advantage over other Twitter competitors, and even an edge on Twitter itself.

    “With interest rates being so high, it’s gonna be harder for [Twitter and Twitter copycats] to get cheap money to develop features to be competitive,” said Joseph Panzarella, a clinical assistant professor of digital marketing and media at Yeshiva University. “Meta is willing, and in a position, to put money behind this.”

    Integration with Instagram

    Threads’ integration with Instagram is another thing that sets it apart from early Twitter copycats. Instagram has roughly four times the number of users as Twitter, data from social media management platform Sprout Social shows. That means Threads needs to attract just a portion of Instagram’s existing users to match Twitter’s size, Panzarella noted.

    To create a Threads account, Instagram users simply link their new Meta profile to their existing Instagram accounts. That allows users to automatically transfer their Instagram followers to Threads, which could help boost the app’s adoption tremendously, Panzarella said.

    “Threads, being part of this suite of options Meta offers, can attract that critical mass [of users],” he said. “With a feature that allows you to take followers with you … you don’t have to be within a totally gated community.”


    Threads, Twitter and the saturation of social media

    04:15

    Privacy concerns

    However, making users link their accounts to their Instagram profiles could spur privacy concerns. It could also dissuade pseudonymous Twitter users, who form a large part of active communities like Crypto Twitter, from embracing Threads. Journalists who may not want to link their private Instagram account to their professional Threads account may also hesitate to join the app through Instagram. 

    Threads’ reliance on its Instagram integration signals that the app hasn’t quite nailed down the culture that made Twitter so popular before its acquisition last year by Musk, according to Karpf. 

    “[Threads] doesn’t have the culture right yet,” Karpf said. “Twitter, before the chaos, was for journalists and for some cultures that were just a little too ‘online’… It filled a particular niche that Instagram doesn’t fill.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link