Mastodawn

Mike Olson Jul 5, 2023

The funniest thing about threads so far is that anyone who has been in software for a while can immediately see what happened here: they reduced scope to launch an early milestone.

There's a lot that feels very incomplete. Basic functionality missing, no web UI. The "threads" icon on web just switches between dark mode and light mode.

It's very obvious that this is unpolished, alpha-level stuff that got launched. No AP support, that's "coming soon".

They wanted to eat Musk's lunch big time.

Compuguy 🐱Jul 5, 2023

@rodhilton
Agreed. It's *incredibly* minimum viable product. Heck they didn't even make the app natively support the iPad! On the plus side they *did* release an Android app....

Bart Jul 6, 2023

@compuguy @rodhilton I doubt they even will support the iPad natively. Instagram doesn't even have an iPad app.

Compuguy 🐱Jul 6, 2023

@BartInTheField @rodhilton You’re right. Funny thing is Facebook supports iPads….and yet they won’t invest in making instagram iPad friendly…🤷‍♂️

Justin Jul 5, 2023

@rodhilton at least they got all the data harvesting tech built in for the launch.

David Jul 5, 2023

@rodhilton No reason to believe the missing Web UI will be released quickly. Meta makes money from selling ads using your personal info, and it's a lot easier to get that info from your mobile device. On a desktop browser, there's bunches of ways to prevent them from getting that info e.g. ad block, Firefox containers, etc.

GeekGyrl Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton That's exactly what they did. Probably had minimal QA and Testing done as well with no UAT. Although, if there's hardly anything to it, there's not much to test. 😂

I would not want to be the PM on that project.

David Jul 6, 2023

@geekgyrl The app is so minimal, I wouldn't be surprised if it was written using React Native.

GeekGyrl Jul 6, 2023

@david1 Well...since they (Meta) created it, it only seems logical. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jason Rak Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton @noellemitchell Very smart play. And from what I’m seeing on there now seems as if it’s working. Couldn’t be happier…

@rodhilton They did openly admit that from a Verge article I just read. Basically said with what's happening at Twitter now they decided to just get it out of the door immediately and then work on the rest later.

Rod Hilton Jul 6, 2023

@Nour yeah. 100% the right call, tons of people are signing up and amassing huge followings, which seemingly does nothing since there's no home tab.

The number of signups will motivate them to drive more eng effort and it'll probably be up to mostly-parity within 3 weeks.

@rodhilton I'm honestly very impressed by not just the timing but the design considerations they've taken and overall it's genius. No worries about getting in early and reserving handles (already reserved from IG), no need to start from zero followers (social graph already there), comes from a successful and trusted social brand (Meta) and looks and feels like a cross between Twitter and Instagram. Exactly what people wanted. Fediverse integration is the cherry on top. Ultimate Twitter killer.

Xymon Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton kick a man while he’s down? Best chance you’re gonna get 😇

DavidB Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton I don't even work in IT and this has been my feeling from the first minute using it.
I don't care as long as it allows me to leave Twitter sooner than later.

aerique Jul 6, 2023

@David @rodhilton Going from Twitter to Zuckerberg is... interesting.

DavidB Jul 7, 2023

@aerique @rodhilton I'm on Instagram and Facebook, so... 🤷‍♂️

You know you're allowed to use several social media, right?

aerique Jul 7, 2023

@David @rodhilton Yup, I'm on five different ones at the moment.

John Brewer Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton I'm imagining that last Friday, the Threads team had a team meeting where their manager said, "We're on target to launch in August. Great work everyone! Enjoy the long weekend!"

Then, around noon on Saturday, the same manager called everyone on the team saying, "Did I say 'August'? I meant Wednesday. Get back in here."

Rod Hilton Jul 6, 2023

@jbrewer_jera yep, very strong "Zuckerberg wants to know what we can go live with by end of week" vibes

John Brewer Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton On the other hand, I suspect that team will be *very* well taken care of come bonus time.

Dan Silov Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton On one hand, “fail fast” and so so. On the other, you would think that with Meta’s resources they could’ve done much more.

Autobotanist Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton not that I'm using it but watching two petulant billionaires claw at each other makes me happy. I just hope it's not a red herring. I have a feeling that Musk wasn't actually driven by profit motive with the Twitter acquisition and just wanted his own WaPo like Bezos. I also suspect he purchased it for the data to train his own LLM. Word is open ai spurned him -around the time he started dooming on AI. Meanwhile he hasn't slowed production on autonomous driving or humanoid teslabot...

Ladder Logic 🇨🇦Jul 6, 2023

@rodhilton
The amount of technical debt that they are already carrying is probably massive. From experience it will only get worse.

WesMason Jul 10, 2023

@rodhilton
Multiple images, nope. At least it has tags. *cough*bluesky*cough*
@lisamelton