Meta dropping Twitter competitor on Thursday

[bnew]

Zuckerberg Seems Genuinely Alarmed by the Explosive Growth of Bluesky

Bluesky has apparently become such a successful X-formerly-Twitter alternative, even Mark Zuckerberg is anxiously taking notice.

futurism.com

Nov 26, 9:11 AM EST
byAshley Bardhan
/ Future Society

Terminally Online

Zuckerberg Seems Genuinely Alarmed by the Explosive Growth of Bluesky​

​

Threads, X-formerly-Twitter: beware.​

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

New Horizons ​

Bluesky has apparently become such a successful X-formerly-Twitter alternative that even Mark Zuckerberg is anxiously taking notice. At this rate, the social site could potentially outpace Threads — and Meta clearly isn't happy.

"The race to replace Twitter has accelerated," Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at the market research company eMarketer, told The Washington Post. "Threads has been the de facto home for many displaced [X-formerly-Twitter] users, but the surge of new users to Bluesky after the election has upped the competition."

​

Stiff Competition ​

X-formerly-Twitter, the giant in the space, has something like 300 million active monthly users — a number that's been plummeting ever since Elon Musk acquired the site in 2022, opening up room for a proliferation of new challengers.

Currently, Bluesky has over 22 million users, up from 13 million in October. Threads, in comparison, has around 275 million monthly users — but it's hard to shake the sense that Bluesky's smaller user base is using the service far more obsessively than those at Threads, many of whom are likely signing up because of nagging reminders in Instagram.

The problem is likely that billionaires Zuckerberg and Musk flounder in predicting what normal people want out of a social site — the former drags net-negative AI into everything, and the latter makes idiotic decisions like removing the block button. Bluesky, as little as it may be, at least promises to not exploit user content for generative AI training, and it comes with a pretty powerful block hammer.

That means people are attracted to it, hence Bluesky's skyrocketing userbase. Meta has already pilfered several Bluesky features and introduced them to Threads, letting users customize feeds and prioritize posts from people they actually follow, pulling Threads away from its previously TikTok-style For You page.

And at the end of the day, there may be no stronger sign of corporate fear than copycatting a competitor's features. May the best hellsite win.

 

[bnew]

 

[bnew]

Peter Cottle (@pcottle) on Threads

🪐 It’s a Fediverse Holiday Miracle!! 🪐 Starting today we are taking a HUGE step towards bidirectional interop on Threads – you can now view profiles, follow, and receive post notifications from people across the Fediverse! For now it’s limited to folks who have interacted with Threads content...

www.threads.net

It’s a Fediverse Holiday Miracle!!
Starting today we are taking a HUGE step towards bidirectional interop on Threads – you can now view profiles, follow, and receive post notifications from people across the Fediverse!
For now it’s limited to folks who have interacted with Threads content before, but that’s a pretty low barrier – a single follow, like, or reply to a Threads post is enough.
Here are three additional reasons (beyond the obvious) why this is huge

 

[bnew]

Mike Masnick (@mmasnick.bsky.social)

Wait. So if you're on Threads and enable fediverse sharing, and then also use @ap.brid.gy, your Threads account can also be syndicated here via Threads -> ActivityPub -> Bridgy -> Bluesky. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

bsky.app

Spoiler: thread continued

Ojārs Kapteinis (@ojars.kapteinis.lv)

Nice, I just noticed that @bsky.brid.gy is also working for @threads users. As an example, Bluesky users can see posts from @0xjessel

bsky.app

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/26
Mike Masnick
Wait. So if you're on Threads and enable fediverse sharing, and then also use Bridgy Fed for the fediverse (@ap.brid.gy), your Threads account can also be syndicated here via Threads -> ActivityPub -> Bridgy -> Bluesky.

[Quoted post]
‪Ojārs Kapteinis‬ ‪@ojars.kapteinis.lv‬

Nice, I just noticed that @bsky.brid.gy is also working for @threads users. As an example, Bluesky users can see posts from @0xjessel

2/26
‪Andy Piper‬ ‪@andypiper.me‬
yeah, ActivityPub is pretty cool like that ;-P



3/26
‪mav‬ ‪@mav.wtf‬
with enough duct tape and baling twine, you can make anything talk to anything



4/26
‪mav‬ ‪@mav.wtf‬
I think this is going to be the new title on my business cards



5/26
‪Natanael, Tech janitor‬ ‪@natanael.bsky.social‬
"Electronics relationship counselor"



6/26
‪Johannes Ernst‬ ‪@j12t.org‬
A bit clumsy today, but that is the future:

a global open social network, nevermind the protocol plumbing underneath.



7/26
‪Anuj Ahooja‬ ‪@quillmatiq.com‬
Yup! All my accounts are now following all my other accounts



8/26
‪Kevin Marks‬ ‪@kevinmarks.com‬
Yes, but you have to interact with a bridged threads account from here for people on threads to follow your bsky account



9/26
‪Kevin Marks‬ ‪@kevinmarks.com‬
Trying this now with Threads • Log in



10/26
‪Mark Darbyshire‬ ‪@markd.nz‬
Yup! It's horribly convoluted but it's a glimmer of hope for a truly decentralised social web.



11/26
‪jandi‬ ‪@jandi.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy‬
Mike Masnick (@mmasnick.bsky.social) But why stop there? Where are the MetaFilter/PornHub/SciHub bridges?

Toots with more stickers than the pope's guitar!



12/26
‪Paul A.‬ ⚠Invalid Handle
I'm not doing that. I need two distinct places, so I will have somewhere to go when I say something really stupid on one platform, until it all blows over.



13/26
‪Joé McKen‬ ‪@joemcken.net‬
Bridgeception



14/26
‪Johanna, CanCon variant‬ ‪@johannab.cosocial.ca.ap.brid.gy‬
Mike Masnick (@mmasnick.bsky.social) holy heck I don’t even know what app or service I’m on anymore. I have this same problem with CLIs but the graphical environments USED TO keep me oriented.



15/26
‪Boris‬ ‪@bmann.ca‬
You’re everywhere.



16/26
‪Anders‬ ‪@derzquist.net‬
The Everything App



17/26
‪Natanael, Tech janitor‬ ‪@natanael.bsky.social‬
threads



18/26
‪David B. Himself‬ ‪@fediverse.davidbhimself.online‬
Mike Masnick (@mmasnick.bsky.social) @ap@bsky.brid.gy I thought about it, but how? You can't follow @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy from Threads unless the account has interacted with you. Or can you bridge entiring your account's URL into the "website bridge"?



19/26
‪Jay Stevens‬ ‪@jaystevens.me‬
You can follow @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy, you just can't do it through the Threads app.
Any web browser (including mobile web) will work by going here: Threads • Log in

20/26
‪David B. Himself‬ ‪@fediverse.davidbhimself.online‬
Jay Stevens (@jaystevens.me) @bsky@bsky.brid.gy Thanks



21/26
‪David B. Himself‬ ‪@fediverse.davidbhimself.online‬
@jaystevens @bsky@bsky.brid.gy I did it, it's working! Awesome (well, I don't really use Threads, but awesome nonetheless)



22/26
‪Ben K ‬ ‪@realbenk.bsky.social‬
I'm sure all the people leaving x and threads etc will be pleased as punch that oh they can be dumped on here, and, I assume, they'll be some data scrapping to come later. Cool cool cool. Am I understanding this correctly or am I missing something?



23/26
‪Mike Masnick‬ ‪@mmasnick.bsky.social‬
You're missing that it's all within a user's control. Don't like it, you don't have to set it up.



24/26
‪Ben K ‬ ‪@realbenk.bsky.social‬
Thanks for the clarification. Does that extend to others who interact with that user's activity?



25/26
‪Mr Fred‬ ‪@mrfredw.bsky.social‬
Hot



26/26
‪HesSoCrazy‬ ‪@hesocrazy.bsky.social‬
Who knew



To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

 

[boogers]

bluesky is decent. its nice for actual interests, like music, computers, photography. like twitter used to be 15 years ago

problem is i never check it... i dont care about it. everyone is so polite is almost boring

 

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

Just wrote in my Bluesky bio I would never connect my @Twitter to it

I don’t even know what threads looks like so that’s a non issue

 

[bnew]

Karissa Bell (@karissabe.bsky.social)

Meta is now cloning Bluesky starter packs for Threads

bsky.app

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/35
Karissa Bell

Meta is now cloning Bluesky starter packs for Threads

2/35
‪Pseudandry‬ ‪@pseudandry.bsky.social‬

Love that they can't even fake making the posts look interesting

3/35
‪garth from twitter‬ ‪@garbagecoven.bsky.social‬

“who else likes to eat food?? sound off in the replies!”

4/35
‪sudhang‬ ‪@sudhang.bsky.social‬

Banger

5/35
‪Nekrởtzar‬ ‪@nekrotzar.bsky.social‬

Too bad Meta didn’t clone Bluesky’s not-giving-$1m-to-Trump’s-inauguration.

6/35
‪Vampire Step-Dad‬ ‪@vampirestepdad.com‬

"Stealing What Works" is 90% of Meta's DNA.

7/35
‪taconic @ billionaire crush depth‬ ‪@taconic.bsky.social‬

if somebody ever called me a "threads community leader," I'd immediately go lie down in the middle of the nearest interstate.

8/35
‪Capn Borscht‬ ‪@capnborscht.bsky.social‬

Fast food corps starter pack

Banks starter pack

Defense contractors start pack

Niche snack brands starter pack

9/35
‪Kev‬ ‪@keviniswriting.bsky.social‬

Stealing ideas from other social platforms is how Meta has survived for the past ~15 years

10/35
‪runningbyrd.bsky.social‬ ‪@runningbyrd.bsky.social‬

They've literally never made an innovation. Trash platform.

11/35
‪William Ingle-Gillis‬ ‪@padrewill.wales‬

Honestly, I just don't understand Threads. I've tried. But I just don't.

12/35
‪John Roddy‬ ‪@riscorpian.bsky.social‬

Threads is to Bluesky what Google+ was to Facebook.

13/35
‪Der Motzmichel auf Blusky ‬ ‪@andyger.bsky.social‬

#meta never innovates …

14/35
‪Hognut‬ ‪@hognut.bsky.social‬

Everyone i follow on threads posts about news and I only see their posts in my feed 9 to 14 hours later. fukk that place.

15/35
‪Spicy Jalapeno‬ ‪@jalapeno7.bsky.social‬

Copycat #Zuckerberg.

The guy isn't that smart nor clever. He just wants to be a #Trump Oligarch.

Delete Facebook and X

16/35
‪Ceiling Cat‬ ‪@ceilingcat.bsky.social‬

A Pixar cartoon character named “mosseri” is copying Bluesky

17/35
‪Ceiling Cat‬ ‪@ceilingcat.bsky.social‬

(his avatar looks like the main character from Paperman, a Pixar Short)

Paperman (Short 2012) 8.2 | Animation, Short, Comedy

18/35
‪ellen l‬ ‪@elove.bsky.social‬

i hate that company so much

19/35
‪m2c4‬ ‪@thesoundings.bsky.social‬

Has Zuck ever had an original thought? - even his original "idea" was just to take the idea of rating women and put it online...and he spent billions on the failure of the metaverse which was basically replicating gaming systems.

20/35
‪KikiDoodle & Purrmaids @ MFF‬ ‪@kikidoodle.bsky.social‬

Ah yes, curated feeds from strangers that they think I want to see. Doesn't even seem like it'll let you make your own

21/35
‪whereisk.bsky.social‬ ‪@whereisk.bsky.social‬

They cloned TikTok wholesale, why would they’d stop at Bluesky?

22/35
‪eonrecoil.bsky.social‬ ‪@eonrecoil.bsky.social‬

Bluesky Starter Packs was such an ingeniously simple idea. It greatly helped me overcome the biggest barrier to newly joining a platform.

23/35
‪PatriotTakes ‬ ‪@patriottakes.bsky.social‬

Apps where the CEO isn’t forced into the algorithm are better

24/35
‪Firsk.bsky.social‬ ‪@firsk.bsky.social‬

Was on both Threads (despite Zuck) & Bluesky (after getting an invite code) for some time, haven't been checking Threads for a while now, and the donation of 1 million to the dictator glorification fund has turned that into a hard no.

It's not a red line, more like a red Grand Canyon.

25/35
‪Jordan Falk‬ ‪@jordanfalk.bsky.social‬

Are they calling them “Thtarter Packs?”

26/35
‪Leslie‬ ‪@rbfchampion.bsky.social‬

I remember how they frantically cloned so many other apps, sometime giving up and buying them outright, in the past. After zuck kissing the ring this past week with dump truck I'm planning to leave all Meta properties once my research is done in 2025 (annoyingly, it's part of my data set right now)

27/35
‪Buttertoto‬ ‪@buttertoto.bsky.social‬

“Capitalism breeds innovation” - The innovation

28/35
‪Danny Groner‬ ‪@dannygroner.bsky.social‬

The problem with Threads is not that starter packs weren't available, it's that it's a part of Meta.

29/35
‪Leneen‬ ‪@leneen.bsky.social‬

Can’t innovate? Copy! ISTG people need to wake up and stop using their shyte.

30/35
‪Airwolf!‬ ‪@airwolf.bsky.social‬

Great, now all they need is interesting and worthwhile posters and content

31/35
‪radiobill‬ ‪@radiobill.bsky.social‬

Threads blows chunks

32/35
‪Pete Davidson‬ ‪@petedavidsonny.bsky.social‬

I could use an Ender Pack for my Twitter acct....

33/35
‪Orwell On Edibles‬ ‪@orwellonedibles.bsky.social‬

Mosseri is one of the biggest frauds in SV, and that’s really saying something

34/35
‪Luka Sanzin‬ ‪@sanzin.me‬

As usual they just copy

35/35
‪runreadflyandi.bsky.social‬ ‪@runreadflyandi.bsky.social‬

Happily deleted my Threads account a few weeks ago. Still debating what to do with my instagram accounts.

To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) on Threads

🔔🧵 Testing a way for you to find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about popular topics on Threads. These will be suggested when signing up for Threads and within the For You feed. Shoutout to the handful of Threads community leaders who curated and shared these collections...

www.threads.net

 

[bnew]

Threads starts testing scheduled posts

Instagram says it’s been working on this feature “for months.”

www.theverge.com

Threads starts testing scheduled posts​

You can’t schedule replies, because Threads wants the platform’s conversations to feel real-time and alive.​

By Chris Welch, a reviewer specializing in personal audio and home theater. Since 2011, he has published nearly 6,000 articles, from breaking news and reviews to useful how-tos.
Dec 17, 2024, 4:33 PM EST

Image: The Verge

Threads is about to begin testing the ability to schedule posts, according to Instagram’s Adam Mosseri. “Replies cannot be scheduled,” he added, explaining that “we want to balance giving people more control to plan their Threads posts while still encouraging real-time conversation.”

Mosseri also makes sure to note that Instagram has been working on this feature “for months.” I’m choosing to take as a sign that the Instagram chief is fed up with the notion that Bluesky is the motivating factor behind every new improvement that comes to Threads. Last week, Threads introduced curated collections of people to follow, which drew comparisons to Bluesky’s starter packs.

Yesterday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads now has over 100 million daily active users, marking the first time that the company has revealed a DAU figure for its Twitter / X competitor. Threads also has more than 300 million monthly active users. No matter how Meta is calculating those figures, Bluesky objectively remains far smaller.

Instagram has long offered the option to schedule feed posts, and this week it announced the same convenience is being extended to DMs.