This week the launch of Threadsthe social network for “holding digital conversations in real time” developed by Meta, the mega-company of Mark Zuckerberg.
The goal is to compete with Twitter. The ambition, to gain influence beyond the massiveness guaranteed by the almost 3,000 million users of Facebook, that is, 40% of the inhabitants of the Earth.
Threads means “threads”; another point in common with the network of Elon Muskalthough it comes with the differential of being associated with Instagram, which will allow you to keep the name of the account and follow the same people who already follow on the app of photos, videos and stories.
Zuckerberg’s new AI is “too dangerous” to go public: it can imitate any voice
The first glances at the interface reveal several similarities with the platform of the South African: there is a timeline where to read the latest publications of the people we follow, it is possible to limit the display of messages, share content from others (in the manner of retweets) and verify one’s own profile.
The news comes at a delicate time for Twitterwhich last week puzzled its regulars by limiting the number of messages that can be seen per day.
In his obsession with driving the profitability of the company, Musk it has already tried charging for verified accounts, modifying the algorithm that decides which posts are most visible, and removing content moderation rules that prohibited offensive or discriminatory tweets.
Twitter: Elon Musk extended the limit of reading tweets
But novelty enthusiasts will need to be vigilant. The specialized sites detected that Threads will be one of the applications that collect the most data from its users.
It will focus not only on the usual goals (geolocation, search and browsing histories), but also on financial information, purchase history and even health status. As the digital aphorism says, when the service is free, the product is oneself.
AO JL