海角大神

Vincent Oriarte was one of the 30 million people who joined Threads on its first day. But after trying it, he鈥檚 unsure what innovation the platform brings to the table. 鈥淚 was expecting a whole different type of format and layout completely different from Twitter. But honestly it鈥檚 really hard to see the difference because they鈥檙e just so close together.鈥�

The latest social media platform, created by Meta 鈥� the company behind Facebook and Instagram 鈥� swept through the instant communications landscape with record-breaking speed, achieving 100 million sign-ups within five days of its July 6 launch. ChatGPT, the previous record-holder, took two months to reach that many. TikTok was nine months old when it reached that milestone.听

Threads鈥� rapid rise speaks to a common desire for community and connection, yet also听comes amid growing discontent with the downsides of social media: hate speech, misinformation, censorship claims, and toxic comparisons to others鈥� carefully curated lives. While Threads may offer a fresh start to its users, asking one platform to be the light to social media鈥檚 dark side may be asking too much. Still, there may be real change, experts say, in simply having more options and fresh competition.听

Threads joins other Twitter alternatives like Bluesky and Mastodon, which give users new places to gather online and share their thoughts 鈥� decentralizing what was once a marketplace dominated by a small handful of behemoths.

鈥淔or a long time the social media ecosystem felt very stagnant, overly centralized, everyone in one place,鈥� writes Ren茅e DiResta, research manager for the Stanford Internet Observatory, a cyber policy center, via email. 鈥淭hen a lot of users began to move into smaller groups 鈥� where they could have conversations without being concerned about trolls and spam and the other things that made big platforms like Twitter start to feel toxic.鈥�

Twitter, which had long been the undisputed king of short-burst social media, saw a wave of both users and advertisers abandon it 鈥� or consider doing so 鈥� after billionaire Elon Musk purchased the company last year. Promoting a more free-wheeling ambience, Mr. Musk for many eroded trust in the platform.

Threads seeks to capitalize on that opening. Now Mr.听Musk has threatened to sue Meta鈥檚 Mark Zuckerberg for being a 鈥渃opycat,鈥澨齟scalating a years-long rivalry. Threads鈥� simple, text-centered platform allows users to also post videos, photos, and links to outside content. Just like Twitter.听But Meta executives are pitching Threads as a 鈥渇riendly鈥� space and say its algorithms will prioritize lighter sports and entertainment fare rather than politics and news.

Whether Threads can maintain its vision for a kinder online arena is an open question. Meta is reportedly not bringing the fact-checking program it built to contain misinformation on Facebook and Instagram to Threads.听And political content is quickly flooding onto the new platform.听Threads, like Twitter, will face a difficult balancing act regulating misinformation, controversial or inciting posts, and the varied interests of users, observers say.听

鈥淚 don鈥檛 sense that there鈥檚 a radical differentiation between [Threads and Twitter] right now,鈥� regarding governance of the platforms, says Andrew Sellars,听founding director of the Technology Law Clinic at Boston University. 鈥淚 think users are on pretty equal ground,听which is to say they don鈥檛 have the ability to heavily influence that other than through some grand populist pressure like, 鈥榙o this or don鈥檛 do this, or otherwise I leave the platform.鈥欌��

Threads users听

Threads comes with a catch: It鈥檚 an add-on to Instagram, a popular photo-forward platform, which means Threads users have to have an Instagram account first.听

Writer and teacher Emily Brogan likes that affiliation 鈥� her Threads timeline was instantly populated with familiar friends from Instagram. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to go start from zero and actively find people I want to follow. It all carries over from Instagram,鈥� she says, adding she also feels less inclined to scroll for hours on end.

Content creator Jez Deguzman also made the switch. Once an active Twitter user, he checks his Threads account at least six times a day because the content 鈥渋s a lot cleaner and friendlier.鈥澨�

Ms. Brogan still enjoys Twitter, which she鈥檚 been using actively since 2011. But she鈥檚 become fed up with changes to the platform since Mr. Musk took over in October 2022. He听has required users to pay for verified accounts, limited the number of posts a person sees in their feed, and temporarily removed accounts that irk him personally, drawing anger from users and drawing attention to the enormous power wielded by a handful of titans in the tech world.听

That power blurs the lines between companies and the people who run them 鈥� turning professional rivalries into personality wars. 鈥淏ecause a lone individual is able to more or less control how the company acts and behaves, it becomes very hard to detangle Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk and Meta and Twitter,鈥� says Mr. Sellars.听

This means that it will be very hard for people 鈥渢o actually听confront the power of a Zuckerberg or a Musk,鈥� if users want major changes, Mr. Sellars says.听

Not solely 鈥渇ree speech vs. hate speech鈥澨�

The arrival of Threads has flared anew the debate around content moderation. But while Threads is new, it鈥檚 not novel.听Ultimately, users on both platforms 鈥渟till have very little control over their experience, or transparency around what is showing up in their feed,鈥� says听Ms. DiResta from Stanford, who points out the design and policy choices the companies make aren鈥檛 as binary as 鈥渇ree speech versus听hate speech,鈥� and moderation is more complex than 鈥渁llow it or don鈥檛.鈥�

Users have little agency over how a platform operates, says Professor Sellars, who points to the difference between government-regulated speech and content moderation听on social media. 鈥淭he government, if they want to pass a law that curtails freedom of expression, usually has a very high bar,鈥� and legislative and legal systems that allow for recourse. 鈥淣o such rights exist on any of these platforms. 鈥� It鈥檚 still at the whims of these companies as to what they permit or don鈥檛 permit.鈥�

Consumers do have the right to hit delete. Their power lies in which platforms they choose 鈥� a decision informed by where their friends and desired audiences engage. 鈥淧eople are looking for community and a way to connect with their friends,鈥� Ms. DiResta says. 鈥淎t its best, that鈥檚 what social media has always offered. But when people begin to feel that a platform no longer aligns with their values or the user experience gets bad, they look elsewhere.鈥�

For companies that broker in chatter, the greatest threat is silence.

Editor's note: We have updated the name Jez Deguzman to reflect correct spelling.

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