Nima BoscarinoJul 14, 2023
Darius Kazemi

The framing of what a Threads account *is* strikes me as a funny thing.

Meta is saying "Threads is the fastest growing app in history with 100M users in five days". This doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider that a Threads account *is* an Instagram account.

If you accept that Instagram has 2 billion active non-EU users, the story could easily be "Only 5% of eligible Instagram users opted in to Threads in five days".

Jul 14, 2023 at 10:28pmWeb
Show threaddefinitely just a musicianJul 14, 2023

@darius Mark, in one group chat feels lonely. Mark creates a new group chat, but with just him in it:

“we have experienced 200% growth minute by minute for the past two minutes”

his refrigerator congratulates him, then issues a press release, and a smoothie.

Show threadhermitJul 14, 2023
@darius i had the same thought. cynically, it's very easy to see which platforms have $$$ they can spend to hire people who are experienced at press and marketing, make press kits, etc — they're the ones where all press coverage repeats the same numbers and talking points that they just get directly from the company
Show threadDevon StrangJul 15, 2023
@alive 💯
Show threadMaxJul 14, 2023
@darius Given deactivating Threads requires deactivating Instagram, I’m somewhat curious if they may even be seeing net account *loss* given how many claim to be quitting Threads. Of course that’s not something they would admit to publicly.
Show threadᴚ uɐᗡJul 15, 2023

@darius Yes exactly. Also - if you delete Threads, you lose your Insta account too..

This is why (sadly) nobody will probably migrate from their instance to proper Mastodon.

A lot of people on here don't seem to mention that (?)

Show threadLAURENJul 15, 2023
@dannotdaniel @darius
Maybe the lack of accounts coming out of Instagram demonstrates people understand this?? We'll know more but he better start rolling out the features.
Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Jul 15, 2023

@darius i dont have an instagram account and don't really want one.
So it does make me wonder if i would be able to use threeads IF i wanted that app.

Which i don't.

Show threadLAURENJul 15, 2023

@darius
That number is meant for one person only and Zuckerberg made sure he heard it loud and clear.

"More people signed up for Threads in five days than you have followers."

Show threadBenJul 15, 2023
@darius Next episode on “two lawyers and four lines”: if threads is a feature, does that make it legal in the EU?
Show threadThomasAPowellJul 15, 2023

@darius finally someone says this and it gets heard.

“…but did they get any **actual** new users or did they already have these users who are now trying this new feature they segmented and branded as an app?”

They are new to the thing they made, but they aren’t new to their social network. It’s like if someone moved from one Fedi instance to another and we counted that as a new user.

Show threadDarius KazemiJul 15, 2023
@thomasapowell oh I like that last point, I think it's a good analogy
Show threadWestern InfidelsJul 16, 2023

@darius That's an interesting perspective and I'm glad you're sharing it.

At the same time, getting a whole 5% of an online service's users to sign up for something new in just a few days still seems like a pretty high percentage. What percentages would constitute success or failure at this scale?

Show threadDarius KazemiJul 16, 2023
@WesternInfidels I'd say 5% is just.... normal. Certainly good but nothing amazing