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I'm kinda loving the obvious "X" shills in the comments coming just to declare Threads dead. It is literally the 2nd most downloaded app in the AppStore (was #1

I'm kinda loving the obvious "X" shills in the comments coming just to declare Threads dead. It is literally the 2nd most downloaded app in the AppStore (was #1 for a bit, but Temu is seemingly unstoppable). Personally, it has become my preferred social media platform. It's overflowing with content and I check in on it several times a day, and have been really enjoying the community that is emerging. It DOES however have a big porn bot problem, but I don't think that is unique to Threads. Hopefully, they can come up with a way to minimize it soon.

cdelsolar 3y ago
I kinda stopped using Threads and then they started putting controversial posts on it all over my Facebook feed. Pretty clever. Now I check it often again
nimbius 3y ago
>It is literally the 2nd most downloaded app in the AppStore when you push it relentlessly in the facebook app its kind of hard for it not to become #2 overnight. I give threads eight months before its either riddled with the same trash boomer content as Facebook, or devolves into X in a desperate attempt to emulate its former success. This is less of an innovation for Facebook and more of a convenient pivot now that theyve run out of gas entirely as a social media platform.
brightball 3y ago
I had some experience with this after setting up social media accounts for a conference that I took over in March. LinkedIn is beating them all, significantly. Instagram is next, which surprised me all little. After that it was X and then finally YouTube, which didn't have any content until September so it will likely/hopefully overtake some soon. Threads AND Facebook have been kinda terrible. We just shuttered the Threads account and probably getting ready to do the same for the Facebook account. Threads just picked up some followers from Instagram after the initial launch. Mastodon has a low follower count, but solid engagement among the followers who are there at least. Keeping that one around longer. We may try Bluesky at some point and I'll continue remaining open to trying new things as they come out, but nothing made me optimistic about Threads from our trial so far. Here's the report: https://twitter.com/CodesCarolina/status/1744410822720303348 https://twitter.com/CodesCarolina/status/1744410822720303348
- CharlesW 3y ago
  > LinkedIn is beating them all, significantly. Seems like your metric is "follows for the sake of follows", which is a vanity metric that's easily gamed. What conversion actions are you measuring, and how are they doing?
  - brightball 3y ago
    As somebody who’s learning social media, followers and my own perceptions are pretty much all I’m measuring. If there’s a way to game follower count, it’s happening without me doing anything to game it. Engagement is best on our email list, which is nearly parallel with LinkedIn and we’ve got a 40% open rate there. These numbers are essentially from setting up our Substack and broadcasting the posts out to various different platforms. As somebody with no idea what they are doing and limited time, what should I be measuring?
modeless 3y ago
My threads feed started OK at launch but now is a wasteland of pointless rage bait and r/antiwork style content. I'm sure it's popular but it's not what I want to read. On X I get mostly informative ML and robotics content. Of course it took some curation and liberal use of the "Mute Words" feature to get there. But I just don't think that content is there on Threads. My go-to example of why I don't like what's happening on Threads is Jeff Bezos's last post: https://www.threads.net/@jeffbezos/post/CyFInFjrRxs/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== https://www.threads.net/@jeffbezos/post/CyFInFjrRxs/?igshid=... The replies are an absolute cesspool. Everything people used to accuse Twitter of being and more.
- brightball 3y ago
  > wasteland of pointless rage bait This was also my experience.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    So it's exactly what Twitter people wanted it to be?
    - modeless 3y ago
      It seems to be what happens when a bunch of people whose common trait is hatred of Elon Musk come together to start a community.
  - tayo42 3y ago
    My only interaction with threads is through suggested posts from Instagram. I think I made the mistake of clicking on one to see what stupid thing someone was claiming. That is all it shows me now. Frustrating for multiple reasons. Why do people enjoy this stuff.
- CharlesW 3y ago
  > My threads feed started OK at launch but now is a wasteland of pointless rage bait and r/antiwork style content. I'm sure it's popular but it's not what I want to read. FWIW, you don't have to use Threads' "For You" feed (the equivalent of X's algorithmic feed) at all. But if you like the kismet of seeing other posts, blocking liberally will sort that out.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
llm_nerd 3y ago
I wanted Threads to work but have given up on it, visiting occasionally for a couple of AI-related accounts and that's it. All the constant hype about its download counts hasn't remotely correlated with actual worthwhile content. There is little NFL or F1 content there (lots of players created accounts and then abandoned it), tech content is largely masturbatory "look we're Tech Threads" type content, etc. And to be clear, I deleted my Twitter account shortly after Musk's purchase. I'm not an X "shill", though to offer the counterpoint when I see someone "shilling" Threads I assume they have some iota of success there and really, really want it to be a thing so they'll constantly tell you all about how it ranks in downloads. Thread's algorithms are absolutely fetid garbage. Despite following a couple hundred good accounts and trying to like content I enjoyed, my for you was endlessly filled with almost an inverse set of what I want to see. I didn't engage these posts but instead would just mute/block copiously. It would redouble the same. "Tech" Threads recently has been 100% occupied with Meta employees bitching and whining about Apple, which grows super old. I could switch to Following, but so few people actually post there that it's just sadness, and the few who do post frequently are so obviously desperate to try to make a social media "presence" that it's just...the opposite of not cringey. And again it is shocking how much content on Threads is about Threads, or about Twitter. It's just incredibly boring. And this is the honeymoon period! If this is the best it can offer, what happens when Meta starts actually turning the screws?
pvg 3y ago
Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Atrine 3y ago
It used to be my favorite social media platform, but I quickly deactivated my account on Christmas and then deleted the app. The major problem is that Threads will surface and even recommend (via your Facebook feed as well) threads that people you follow have responded to. Great in theory, but on Christmas Day I opened up FB to find it recommended this highly toxic anti-gay post in the middle of all my friends' posts about the holiday. It was because someone I follow on threads took the bait and commented on this post. I've had far too many instances of this sort of behavior in my life and the only options available were to unfollow everyone, constantly block these abusive actors, or leave. For me, it was absolutely not worth staying, despite the up sides.
hn1986 3y ago
Indeed, it's in the top 5 app rankings in many countries. https://www.appbrain.com/app/threads-an-instagram-app/com.instagram.barcelona https://www.appbrain.com/app/threads-an-instagram-app/com.in... I'd encourage people to give Threads and Bluesky a try. Both don't have a CEO that amplifies conspiracy theories and falsehoods.
bjorglo 3y ago
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cdelsolar 3y ago

I kinda stopped using Threads and then they started putting controversial posts on it all over my Facebook feed. Pretty clever. Now I check it often again

nimbius 3y ago

>It is literally the 2nd most downloaded app in the AppStore when you push it relentlessly in the facebook app its kind of hard for it not to become #2 overnight. I give threads eight months before its either riddled with the same trash boomer content as Facebook, or devolves into X in a desperate attempt to emulate its former success. This is less of an innovation for Facebook and more of a convenient pivot now that theyve run out of gas entirely as a social media platform.

brightball 3y ago

I had some experience with this after setting up social media accounts for a conference that I took over in March. LinkedIn is beating them all, significantly. Instagram is next, which surprised me all little. After that it was X and then finally YouTube, which didn't have any content until September so it will likely/hopefully overtake some soon. Threads AND Facebook have been kinda terrible. We just shuttered the Threads account and probably getting ready to do the same for the Facebook account. Threads just picked up some followers from Instagram after the initial launch. Mastodon has a low follower count, but solid engagement among the followers who are there at least. Keeping that one around longer. We may try Bluesky at some point and I'll continue remaining open to trying new things as they come out, but nothing made me optimistic about Threads from our trial so far. Here's the report: https://twitter.com/CodesCarolina/status/1744410822720303348 https://twitter.com/CodesCarolina/status/1744410822720303348

CharlesW 3y ago
> LinkedIn is beating them all, significantly. Seems like your metric is "follows for the sake of follows", which is a vanity metric that's easily gamed. What conversion actions are you measuring, and how are they doing?
- brightball 3y ago
  As somebody who’s learning social media, followers and my own perceptions are pretty much all I’m measuring. If there’s a way to game follower count, it’s happening without me doing anything to game it. Engagement is best on our email list, which is nearly parallel with LinkedIn and we’ve got a 40% open rate there. These numbers are essentially from setting up our Substack and broadcasting the posts out to various different platforms. As somebody with no idea what they are doing and limited time, what should I be measuring?

modeless 3y ago

My threads feed started OK at launch but now is a wasteland of pointless rage bait and r/antiwork style content. I'm sure it's popular but it's not what I want to read. On X I get mostly informative ML and robotics content. Of course it took some curation and liberal use of the "Mute Words" feature to get there. But I just don't think that content is there on Threads. My go-to example of why I don't like what's happening on Threads is Jeff Bezos's last post: https://www.threads.net/@jeffbezos/post/CyFInFjrRxs/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== https://www.threads.net/@jeffbezos/post/CyFInFjrRxs/?igshid=... The replies are an absolute cesspool. Everything people used to accuse Twitter of being and more.

brightball 3y ago
> wasteland of pointless rage bait This was also my experience.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  So it's exactly what Twitter people wanted it to be?
  - modeless 3y ago
    It seems to be what happens when a bunch of people whose common trait is hatred of Elon Musk come together to start a community.
- tayo42 3y ago
  My only interaction with threads is through suggested posts from Instagram. I think I made the mistake of clicking on one to see what stupid thing someone was claiming. That is all it shows me now. Frustrating for multiple reasons. Why do people enjoy this stuff.
CharlesW 3y ago
> My threads feed started OK at launch but now is a wasteland of pointless rage bait and r/antiwork style content. I'm sure it's popular but it's not what I want to read. FWIW, you don't have to use Threads' "For You" feed (the equivalent of X's algorithmic feed) at all. But if you like the kismet of seeing other posts, blocking liberally will sort that out.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

llm_nerd 3y ago

I wanted Threads to work but have given up on it, visiting occasionally for a couple of AI-related accounts and that's it. All the constant hype about its download counts hasn't remotely correlated with actual worthwhile content. There is little NFL or F1 content there (lots of players created accounts and then abandoned it), tech content is largely masturbatory "look we're Tech Threads" type content, etc. And to be clear, I deleted my Twitter account shortly after Musk's purchase. I'm not an X "shill", though to offer the counterpoint when I see someone "shilling" Threads I assume they have some iota of success there and really, really want it to be a thing so they'll constantly tell you all about how it ranks in downloads. Thread's algorithms are absolutely fetid garbage. Despite following a couple hundred good accounts and trying to like content I enjoyed, my for you was endlessly filled with almost an inverse set of what I want to see. I didn't engage these posts but instead would just mute/block copiously. It would redouble the same. "Tech" Threads recently has been 100% occupied with Meta employees bitching and whining about Apple, which grows super old. I could switch to Following, but so few people actually post there that it's just sadness, and the few who do post frequently are so obviously desperate to try to make a social media "presence" that it's just...the opposite of not cringey. And again it is shocking how much content on Threads is about Threads, or about Twitter. It's just incredibly boring. And this is the honeymoon period! If this is the best it can offer, what happens when Meta starts actually turning the screws?

pvg 3y ago

Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Atrine 3y ago

It used to be my favorite social media platform, but I quickly deactivated my account on Christmas and then deleted the app. The major problem is that Threads will surface and even recommend (via your Facebook feed as well) threads that people you follow have responded to. Great in theory, but on Christmas Day I opened up FB to find it recommended this highly toxic anti-gay post in the middle of all my friends' posts about the holiday. It was because someone I follow on threads took the bait and commented on this post. I've had far too many instances of this sort of behavior in my life and the only options available were to unfollow everyone, constantly block these abusive actors, or leave. For me, it was absolutely not worth staying, despite the up sides.

hn1986 3y ago

Indeed, it's in the top 5 app rankings in many countries. https://www.appbrain.com/app/threads-an-instagram-app/com.instagram.barcelona https://www.appbrain.com/app/threads-an-instagram-app/com.in... I'd encourage people to give Threads and Bluesky a try. Both don't have a CEO that amplifies conspiracy theories and falsehoods.

bjorglo 3y ago

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