In 2023 an app to share with TEXT
Notes on the evolution or death of social networking and Instagram Threads
June 30 is globally observed as “World Social Media Day”.
In 2010 it was a big deal when Mashable started it.
Orkut was lying on its deathbed. Facebook was the new kid teaching us that you now meet people on the Internet. And how do you do it - connect and tell your world what you are up to. And this was the start of the era to be cool online and show the world how you perceived it to be glamorous. For close to a decade, we kept on sharing tremendous amounts of our personal data to the platform which was all the while telling us it is free to use.
But our elders have taught us that nothing is free in this world. Anyway, we ignored it and waited for the Cambridge Analytica scandal to make us aware of the importance of personal data and for the first time, some of us started educating ourselves about online security. And also forced Facebook to take user security seriously.
Meanwhile, the Internet was changing fast. A new era of social media was rising with the help of smartphones with better cameras and loaded with decreasing data prices. From sharing everything with the world, the new set of networks started talking about “Interests”. And one of them gained prominence with its simplicity of sharing only images - Instagram.
Before it was bought by Facebook(2012), the app was a simple platform to share images with some text. And just like that everyone was a photographer with the beauty of filters. This gave rise to interest-based social networks.
There was a growing shift towards Instagram but Facebook made sure that all data remains in the family. This kept the marketers happy and provided the much-needed ad dollars for the world's biggest social media platform.
Till now Mark Zuckerberg was having a healthy sleep. Facebook was growing not only in America but in countries like India where it is still the largest social network in terms of reach and engagement. Instagram also started catering to the slightly younger generation. However, it failed to buy Snapchat where teens especially from the developed markets were spending time.
By now the world was moving to videos. As a result, consumption needs drastically started changing the definition of social media. From sharing everything between friends and family we started seeing users following content based on their needs and interests. The idea of sharing wasn’t exciting anymore. The new era was all about the individual, and personalisation.
This gave to the rise of Tiktok and content powered by AI. For the first time, Meta had a real competitor. From lobbying to making a TikTok clone - Reels, and laying off thousands of employees Meta somehow survived the TikTok madness. And now it is investing in AI to not only suggest content from people who you follow or family and friends but from unconnected sources depending on your consumption behavior and interests.
With the growing interest in generative AI and making sense of public data available; tech companies are now putting locks to their doors before companies like Google and Microsoft can mint. From social networks being free to networks charging fees be it for the blue tick or accessing for better service. The world of social media and its premise has completely changed. It is no more the good old age of sharing and connecting with people for free. Well, nothing was free.
Instagram Threads
In this rapidly changing world where the definition of social networking has changed Meta is about to launch its Twitter rival called the Threads - an app powered by Instagram to have conversations.
Meta says: “Whether you’re a creator or a casual poster, Threads offers a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. We are working toward making Threads compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the Internet.
Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas. Just like on Instagram, with Threads you can follow and connect with friends and creators who share your interests – including the people you follow on Instagram and beyond. And you can use our existing suite of safety and user controls.”
Meta further says that going forward it will make Threads interoperable with other apps that also support the ActivityPub protocol, such as Mastodon and WordPress – allowing new types of connections that are simply not possible on most social apps today.
Call me a pessimist but the word “open” doesn’t match up with Meta. According to a Reddit discussion, you can’t delete the Threads app for that you will have to delete Instagram.
Why a standalone app?
Instagram tried the whole conversation bit with Notes and it was boring and was hiding in one end. And this is also the perfect time to go after Twitter which is in chaos with the new CEO Elon Musk.
“Twitter is in crisis and Meta needs its mojo back,” one Meta employee wrote in an internal post last year, according to a report in December by The New York Times. “LET’S GO FOR THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER.”
We also live in a world that either hates Elon or loves him like a god. This was evident when Substack launched Notes to compete with Twitter. Within a week the dark side of Twitter was visible in the open. Not just Meta but Tumblr, Nostr, Spill, Mastodon, Bluesky, etc all are trying to compete with Twitter but no one has deep pockets like Mark Zuckerberg and the userbase.
Threads is powered by Instagram so it is already sitting on a powerful userbase and it wants the creator base to join the app too. The trends are already showing good numbers - five million sign-ups in its first four hours.
But it will be interesting to see how Meta handles the problems that Twitter has been facing from inception such as online hate and trolls.
Threads will also be the avenue for Meta to own the space around News and Media. And even if Adam Mosseri ignores the question on ads, we all know the truth.
Where’s the money in all this for Meta? Likely ads, though as is typically the case when Meta launches a new product, it will be ad-free to start as the company explores whether it can attract enough users to make it a meaningful business opportunity.
“Honestly, we're not focused on it at all right now,” Mosseri said to Casey Newton.
Another social media app?
I don’t know about you but for me social networking is dead. 13 years ago I was excited as a kid sharing, talking, and recommending. Today while I pay my bills from digital consulting and when the future of social networking is being called decentralised or autonomous I chose to be inactive on most of them.
Social media is no more a place for interacting, sharing ideas, and connecting. It has become all about ads, influencers, and fluff.
Also, I don’t feel the urge to tell the world what I am doing or where I am in exchange for a few likes or comments. That’s how the world was before the Internet and it was still successful and connected. This is my way of simplifying life.
But it might not be the case for you and you should do what is right for you. So go check out Threads - a new way to share with Text. Just don’t post screenshots of your tweets on the new app ;)