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Threads is struggling to retain users — but it could still catch up to X
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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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Technology
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I don't get it
If people want a twitter alternative, why don't they just go to mastodon instead of threads?
Because famous figures or organizations are the primary draw for the mainstream audience over random users. And many use it because they themselves hope to use the huge platform to promote or try to become an influencer.
Yep, without actual big content creators the platform is just randos talking about their private life. That's not inherently a bad thing but Mastodon often feels to me more like Facebook for software developers than something like Twitter where'd if actually find interesting new people to follow or art/music/games to enjoy.
Lack of proper discovery tools and algorithm is also a big issue.
I wish. I’ve tried to curate mine as such.
My mastodon feed is awash in spam from authors hucking their LLM generated stories. Constantly. And random low viewer count streamers spamming hashtags every hour 24/7.
It’s crazy how much LinkedIn-like sociopathy is out there right now. Makes sense given the huge spike in new accounts we’ve had in the last month.
Are you following a lot of hashtags? To me that was just a recipe to disaster, my feed almost became as deranged and unhinged as the "federated" feed which at times made twitter look tame. I mostly just follow a few people now that seemed like they are posting interesting stuff, hoping their boosts or favorites would lead to other like-minded people (it didn't).
You badly underestimate the proportion of people who have never heard of Mastadon.
Mastodon seems to be more confusing than Threads or Bluesky for most users
Giant corporations as a comfort zone?
Maybe being stalked 24/7 is their kink?
I'd bet most of the people on theads aren't looking for a "Twitter alternative" they just clicked on the button in the Instagram app. The rest are lost journos and clout chasers.
I’d guess there’s a few reasons.
Threads was able to be pushed through other large commercial platforms, and onboarding was trivial for anyone coming through the portal.
Mastodon lacks that kind of exposure and the onboarding process of choosing an instance makes it feel more confusing.
As a result, Threads starts off with a network effect that is quite a bit more advanced than Mastodon’s. It has more high profile users that maintain an active account. It also claims to want to join the fediverse, which makes users think that they can easily onboard with Mastodon in the near future.