I wrote about the ongoing X-odus, and about why I don’t think Threads is the future. But @emilybell.bsky.social’s quotes steal the show, tbh. www.theguardian.com/media/articl... - ThreadSky

jamesrball.com • 203 days ago

I wrote about the ongoing X-odus, and about why I don’t think Threads is the future. But @emilybell.bsky.social’s quotes steal the show, tbh. https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/aug/18/elon-musk-x-twitter-threads-bluesky-meta-instagram-mastodon

Comments

anniegirl.bsky.social•202 days ago

Threads is worse than Instagram. You can’t search it. It’s boring.

hughster.bsky.social•203 days ago

You could be right, at least for the UK, but I think the lack of UK-related action there is more to do with key UK people having chosen BSky very early on and heavily organised to get more key users there. As a platform, I think it's much better than here for various reasons, not least moderation.

deanmorrison.bsky.social•203 days ago

Should have illustrated your article with this 😉

davewsocial.bsky.social•203 days ago

Designed by the people who brought us Facebook, which IMO is a dreadful user experience as well as being little more than a data grab of users’ personal info.

elrondcupboard.bsky.social•203 days ago

This - Facebook/insta but tweets sounds like a nightmare.

I just want a chronological feed and to find stuff if I lose my place. I cannot do that via magic algorithm

wildgorillaman.bsky.social•202 days ago

IMO Threads is full of Instagram clout chasers trying to long form text when that’s not their strength

Also, I got tired of being force fed posts by people I have zero interest in hearing about

If someone is enjoying Threads I’m happy that they’re happy

emmagee.bsky.social•202 days ago

I've looked at Threads and haven't been impressed (even though quite a few of my X followers have gone there).
The celeb reasons for joining from your piece would be a strong reason for me to go. Bluesky doesn't feel like a mega account driven app- yet.

smkeogh.bsky.social•203 days ago

I'm finding Threads is somewhat forced upon me via Instagram but it's full of people talking about perceived slights and indulging in some sort of purity Olympics, wagging their fingers all the time.
Obviously this is just my feed but none of the people I'm connected to post... So it's all this 🤷🏻‍♀️

gingerworrier.bsky.social•202 days ago

I hate the (not usually very) enticing half posts from Threads that other insta/FB inflict on my timeline. I have to have FB for work and I do like instagram but I closed my threads acc because it felt dull and meta has enough of me already.

smkeogh.bsky.social•202 days ago

Yes quite!

rmgriffiths.bsky.social•202 days ago

Oh it’s definitely the purity Olympics over there… but I’m seeing some of that here too. I hope it’s more limited - it’s stifling.

smkeogh.bsky.social•202 days ago

Agreed. So much navel gazing and telling each other off

simonjones.bsky.social•203 days ago

I just read the print version with its more apparently pro-Threads headline which made me wonder briefly if I should have opted for Threads instead.

jamesrball.com•203 days ago

It’s a good headline but it does suggest the piece is a bit more positive than it is!

vermisstpfarrer.bsky.social•203 days ago

Threads is great, but a replacement for Twitter it ain't.
I don't know if Bsky is yet either tbf, I know Masto isnt, but they all have their place.

fascinatorfun.bsky.social•203 days ago

Not going to swap Melon Head for Zuckerberg

maryan506.bsky.social•203 days ago

Hear, hear!

tarquinfauntleroy.bsky.social•203 days ago

Completely agree.. I'm not going anywhere near Threads..

k8tshires.bsky.social•203 days ago

Nope, me neither.

avazig.bsky.social•203 days ago

Zuckerberg? There is a reason why millions closed our Facebook accounts!

Never meta

aendra.com•203 days ago

I've always been fascinated by how few screenshots from Threads get picked up by the computer vision model I run on the Bluesky firehose. Every service I monitor generates more screenshots than Threads, even Mastodon/Fediverse.

wildgorillaman.bsky.social•202 days ago

Hmm. That IS interesting

cyberrb25.bsky.social•203 days ago

I guess it is about Threads being actively nurtured against being an information-generating/information-spreading social network. If the stuff isn't told/generated there, there's little reason to screenshot it.

Why is @nesbot.bsky.social useful in gaming environments? Because it is a source of info

aendra.com•203 days ago

I have a lot of theories (up to and including "maybe my model just isn't very good at detecting Threads screenshots", though there's enough people using XBlock now that our users actively report screenshots the model missed) but I refuse to use another Meta product so can't say with any certainty.

aparker.io•203 days ago

anecdotally, I’ve never seen someone share a post from threads on any other medium (slack, discord, whatever)

the ratio these days is twit > bsky > fedi

prasino.bsky.social•203 days ago

Doesn't Threads censor political issues? Using from EU is very limited

michwatsonoz.bsky.social•202 days ago

I don’t know about censor but official Threads policy is anti-news and anti-politics.

kjbrowning.bsky.social•202 days ago

I don’t have a big X acct but use it avidly. Got accts with Threads/BlueSky last year and trying them again. Problem with Threads:
Zuck, limiting news/politics posts, no control over feed, no lists to organize, and worst - I set up a separate acct but it still linked me to real life MAGA friends. No

kjbrowning.bsky.social•202 days ago

I keep hoping European countries will force regulation on X (because we take free speech too far in the US imho) or that Elon will be arrested or get bored and sell X to someone who wants to make it better. I like a bit of algorithm. Tried Spoutible but missed too much w/ the chronological feed.

rmgriffiths.bsky.social•202 days ago

If you just stick to your following feed, it’s just people you follow in chronological order.

loukas.bsky.social•203 days ago

Btw this is the site I use to monitor monthly active users on Mastodon. It's part of a wider tracker of the Fediverse https://fedidb.org/software/mastodon

janetrad.bsky.social•203 days ago

Glad I'm not the only one who dislikes threads, and especially the way its pushed on Inst and FB.And it's true, lots of people have signed up and never posted a thing. And the rest is largely drivel.

vikkik88.bsky.social•202 days ago

Agree.

Hoping there are much better options in the future

supergoofnz.bsky.social•202 days ago

Threads has a growing problem with terfs and porn bots. Until or unless they sort that out, I can't see it really taking off. But knowing how crap FB is at enforcing their own rules, I'm not holding my breath.

tonyhill.bsky.social•203 days ago

It reads more like an ad pro threads to me, I am afraid. I guess you saw this.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/technology/internet/67606/what-would-happen-if-we-all-abandoned-elon-musks-toxic-platform

epistemophobia.skeet.tw•202 days ago

how does "this place sucks and nobody posts on it" sound like a pro

zigzaggin.bsky.social•203 days ago

I like Threads. I like BlueSky. Both seem to be as good as the people you follow. I also use Mastodon, but I haven't found a big enough interesting group to follow there. I don't care about engagement or followers. I just want entertaining content when I open my phone as a distraction.

anothermike100.bsky.social•202 days ago

The threads on Threads don't thread.

yiannisbab.bsky.social•203 days ago

I don't understand threads at all

rachelkennedy.bsky.social•203 days ago

with @emilybell.bsky.social on threads, no idea what’s going on there

marcof.net•203 days ago

I'm switching between Threads and Bluesky. They're both inferior to (previous) Twitter. Threads is a LOT better with photos and videos. Engagement is better on Bluesky it seems, probably because it is a lot smaller.
Not yet willing to ditch X, but I'm cleaning up my "Follow" list.

lostcitymagic.bsky.social•202 days ago

Wish this had mentioned how meta is purposely keeping political content and accounts that mention politics from being seen by the general public or that one of the people who helped create project 2025 is in charge of content policy at meta, or that their fact checkers are right wing newsgroups

lostcitymagic.bsky.social•202 days ago

(Alt text of above post is screenshot of Dustin Carmack of the heritage foundation LinkedIn profile showing he is now in charge of content policy for Facebook and meta)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-12/instagram-shunning-politics-reduced-views-for-major-accounts

cabbagepatchcat.bsky.social•203 days ago

I'm not on Threads by virtue of the fact that both times I've created an Instagram account it's been banned two days later despite not posting. So there seems little point (and given the choice between celeb/gossip and news/politics, I'll choose the latter).

philippa22.bsky.social•203 days ago

How did you manage that??

cabbagepatchcat.bsky.social•203 days ago

Manage what?

philippa22.bsky.social•203 days ago

Getting banned twice

cabbagepatchcat.bsky.social•203 days ago

Tripped up some automated algorithmic thing at a guess? No idea. No loss so I don't let it worry me.

nzpom.com•202 days ago

Bluesky FTW

mxfee.bsky.social•202 days ago

One small missed thing is that if you delete your Threads account, you lose your IG. Unless that's been changed, it was a big reason a lot of folks were hesitant to sign up. The idea that if they didn't like it and wanted to shut it down they'd lose their decade old IG account sucked.

radiohead319.bsky.social•203 days ago

After the last couple of years' adrenaline-fueled algorithms on Xitter, probably anything would feel dull while coming off that artificial "high".

Bluesky just feels right to me in comparison - all the upsides of Xitter and none of the downsides so far.

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