Threads Passes 30 Million Sign-Ups In Less Than 24 Hours (techcrunch.com) 110
After surpassing 10 million sign-ups in the first seven hours, Meta's new Twitter rival, Threads, has reached a new milestone: 30 million sign-ups in less than 24 hours. TechCrunch reports: Threads passed 2 million signups in its first two hours live in the App Store and shows no signs of slowing down. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted the milestone on his Threads account. Threads was available for "preorder" through iOS, notifying users who were alerted of its existence through a flashy Instagram cross-promotion. Threads is deeply tied into Instagram and Instagram accounts now display a Threads user number so the counting is both transparent and happening in real time. Users who opted into the Threads pre-launch received a push notification when Threads went live on Wednesday afternoon and could immediately hop into Meta's latest app. Threads is also now the fastest app to cross the 1 million users mark, beating ChatGPT's record.
Further reading: Twitter Threatens To Sue Meta Over Threads
Further reading: Twitter Threatens To Sue Meta Over Threads
Oh boy! (Score:4, Funny)
Can you imagine what Elon Musk is going through? Dude must be in a rage fit. I mean he's already fired off lawyer letters trying to get Zuckerberg to turn off Threads. Dude is going ballistic.
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Threads must be great if he's trying so hard to get it shut down. Didn't Elon himself say "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" ("Voice of the people is the voice of God" reference: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/s... [twitter.com] )
Well, the people are choosing Threads.
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Are the people choosing slashdot?
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They used to.
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eh... FOMO
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Can you blame him? They specifically went after hiring ex-Twitter employees who were bound by NDA to implement it - if you believe the accusations.
Re:Oh boy! (Score:5, Insightful)
An NDA doesn't prevent people from working in the same field, that would be a non-compete which wouldn't be allowed in CA. Makes perfect sense that FB would scoop up all the talented engineers that Twitter fired to work on their alternative
Re:Oh boy! (Score:4, Insightful)
If the NDA covers technologies that twitter uses and the specific items the employee was responsible for, then goes to another company and uses their knowledge of the systems covered by the NDA to develop the same system for them, that would be an issue.
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So if you find out at an old job that Linux works better than Windows, you aren't allowed to say it at the new job?
Re:Oh boy! (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes.
I've had a lawyer tell me the same thing. I couldn't believe it either, but even though it's open source software, the knowledge that it works better than Windows at particular tasks is actually not widely known (ergo, Windows adoption in corporate America). Thus, knowing how to get Linux to say, playback video smoothly by using a filesystem popular in one OS, as opposed to one popular in another, is, in fact, a trade secret covered by NDA.
Even though that knowledge could be discovered by anyone willing to look, proving so in court is costly. If someone else would have to do the analysis to show A works better than B - even if it is widely believed, but not published - can be considered a trade secret. From the perspective of MBA's, anything an MBA doesn't know is some sort of "secret sauce" covered by NDA as a trade secret.
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The lawyer lied to you. Was it your lawyer or the company’s lawyer?
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No, my lawyer was right - it would have taken a few kilobucks to prove in court that I didn't violate the NDA.
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Sorry dude, your lawyer was wrong. Using Linux is not a trade secret. Agree with JabrTheHut this sounds completely made up, either by you or by a lawyer that doesn't know anything.
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There is a specific protocol to make it a trade secret. I have tons of stuff done for the company that goes through the intellectual property review committee. I ask for patent filing, but the committee often comes back and says, "the patent protection is difficult to enforce, we will mark it a trade secret". Everyone w
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If we go by that standard, no company would hire experienced workers. And there'd be no point of having a resume since your knowledge gained by prior experience is all owned by your previous employer. And yes, every company makes you sign an NDA.
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That's completely a farce of a statement and you know it. Clearly it related to proprietary technology developed, not your experience with creating databases.as an example.
If you develop a proprietary database system or program to manage things, you're not allowed to recreate the code for another company.
You can take your knowledge and develop a new system though.
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No, it clearly didn't relate to "proprietary technology developed" as there were no specifics in the lawyer letter. He's not even alleging specific code theft, like Oracle vs. Google. He's literally like "you guys are using our IP, shut down." Why didn't he send that letter to Mastodon?
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If you develop a proprietary database system or program to manage things, you're not allowed to recreate the code for another company.
You can take your knowledge and develop a new system though.
It's kind of a fuzzy line between those two options though, isn't it?
Where does "recreating the code" end and "taking your knowledge and developing a new system" begin?
Personally I would say that as long as you are using only your own memory and no written materials from your previous job, you should be in the clear, but of course software patents are a thing.
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It's kind of a fuzzy line between those two options though, isn't it?
Yes and no? The challenge they'll have to find is if the code is identical, like stolen, or if it can be considered a trade secret. You're right that it's a lot harder with code, but NDA's usually have some sort of expiry. You can patent a program's code to do a specific task, and while that patent is live, other people can't code the same thing the same way without a deal with the patent holder.
So the other aspect of this is a first to market first to patent kind of thing. You can come up with ideas entir
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Nope. If they steal code or reimplement it exactly the same way, that would be an issue. You can bet that they did not implement the problems Twitter is sure to have on Threads as well, but rather built something better.
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I agree with the "if they stole code" part, but he hasn't specifically alleged that .. he used broad weasel words instead. You realize here that Elon has no evidence of anything. He has no evidence that any Twitter code was used in Threads. He doesn't even know how many, if any, Twitter employees worked on Threads. So far he's resorted to saying "they copied me" .. without saying what they copied or how. He's going to get lawyers to paint some story. Guaranteed it'll be more like "Linux is a better choice t
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Oh great, here we SCO again...
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Oh great, here we SCO again...
Possibly. Although, to be fair. Twitter/Threads is hardly comparable in importance to Linux. For all I care, they can annihilate each other and the world would be a better place.
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Well, essentially Musk is just but-hurt that the people he fired (!) are not loyal to him anymore. What a sorry excuse for a human being.
I doubt he has any chance. Meta will have been very careful.
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More butthurt is the left that they can't censor wrong opinions on the largest ever public discussion forum. Threads is going to be their version of Truth Social.
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and uses their knowledge of the systems covered by the NDA to develop the same system for them, that would be an issue.
Unless you're developing unique and amazing technology, this is something that is very difficult to prove. In the software world it's unfortunately very difficult to lock things down behind NDA in any meaningful way. Now if on the other hand it were Tesla with a unique battery chemistry and that chemistry magically showed up in another car it would be a different matter.
But software is software, a bunch of developed math. You can't gag an entire profession under NDA.
Its about trade secrets not people (Score:4, Interesting)
An NDA doesn't prevent people from working in the same field, that would be a non-compete which wouldn't be allowed in CA. Makes perfect sense that FB would scoop up all the talented engineers that Twitter fired to work on their alternative
The legal stuff is not about people. It's about trade secrets. That is what the lawyers for Twitter are referring to.
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What trade secret though .. he needs to be specific like "they stole our database configuration" or "they used a microservice architecture"... he's alleging BS and fishing.
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What trade secret though .. he needs to be specific like "they stole our database configuration" or "they used a microservice architecture"... he's alleging BS and fishing.
Trad secrets are only enforceable if the company does not disclose them. Citing them in public court document would be such a disclosure. The details will only be mentioned behind closed doors.
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What trade secrets?
Collecting and displaying messages on a timeline is hardly a trade secret. Facebook already does it anyway, and probably used the same infrastructure for Threads.
Twitter open sourced their algorithm for selecting posts to display, so they can hardly claim that is a trade secret.
Facebook appears to be using its in-house safety systems, so unlikely anything was stolen there.
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What trade secrets? Collecting and displaying messages on a timeline is hardly a trade secret.
Its not about what you do, its about how you go about doing it.
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Indeed. And it was really stupid to fire them in the first place.
Re:Oh boy! (Score:5, Insightful)
If Twitter has just laid off most of their staff and your company based a few miles away is building a Twitter competitor, of course you're going to try to hire lots of ex-Twitter employees and of course the employees will want to apply there. That's not evidence of wrongdoing, it's just evidence that Twitter wants to try to use NDAs as if they were non-compete agreements.
The notion that Twitter has any trade secrets worth anything in the first place is pretty hard to buy. It's not particularly innovative software, and if the advertising side was full of secrets then they sure weren't paying off. The "secret" of Twitter's success was being the platform where everybody else was already present thanks to some shrewd moves nearly 20 years ago.
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The notion that Twitter has any trade secrets worth anything in the first place is pretty hard to buy.
In fact, it is pretty much not credible in the first place. Nothing Twitter uses on the tech side has any innovation in it that was made by Twitter. And on the scalability-side, there simply is not anything needed that was not general knowledge (among experts) _before_ Twitter did it. The only "protected" stuff about Twitter will be the look&feel and there you simply get legal experts that make sure you are different enough.
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So? NDA still does not prevent you from using your expertise. And you can bet that under the hood "Threads" is a lot better than "Twitter". Nobody competent has any need to steal code to implement a rather generic messaging app. The real knowledge is bottlenecks, to-be expected infrastructure problems, update mechanism characteristics and how to prepare for adding features. None of that you can put under NDA. And rightfully so.
Hence hiring people with respective on-target expertise is what you do. The only
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They have any evidence of that? What trade secrets were stolen?
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So Musk says everyone he fired was incompetent. So you're telling me Zuckerberg hired a bunch of incompetent workers and built something better?
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Why would I believe anything that man says? Shouldn't everyone be driving their Cybertrucks alongside highways full of autonomous Tesla semi trailers? Still vaporware.
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You can't fire someone and also NDA bind them.
Re: Oh boy! (Score:2)
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Dude is going ballistic.
If he reaches escape velocity, that would be a win for everybody...
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Maybe Elon will send Zuck a complaint via Threads ...
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Apart 2 stories (yesterday and today) on /., i have no indication that it happened. Also, guts tell me FB implemented some auto-signup whenever you used one of their platforms. It sort-of contradicts my previous statement, that outside /., i did not notice its existence. Going by statistics, numbers don't align to me and seem off, one way or the other.
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No they didn't. Even if you have instagram, you have to go on there and click sign up. If it was an auto-signup the numbers would instantly match instagram or facebooks. Instagram has 500 million daily active users btw. If he wanted to do the auto-signup route, he'd be at that number by now.
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One caveat, the signup process is a few steps easier because when you enter your email, they ask you whether to import your profile from Instagram. That's still not the same as auto-signup because auto-signup implies people were signed up without the deliberate and prior intent of getting an account.
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Why do you hate Twitter -- the new Twitter -- so much?
Re:Oh boy! (Score:4, Funny)
Can you imagine what Elon Musk is going through? Dude must be in a rage fit. I mean he's already fired off lawyer letters trying to get Zuckerberg to turn off Threads. Dude is going ballistic.
He's probably live tweeting the entire thing, but nobody can read it because Twitter's broken.
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If only there was some way to find out what Elon was going though...
https://twitter.com/elonmusk
Latest tweet: "Must confess to a deep love of fashion & architecture"
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Yes he's going to put his meltdowns on there? I don't think so.
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It's still more than you have.
Define a user (Score:3)
With it being so embedded into instagram, I wouldn't be surprised if accidentally clicking a link there counts you as using Threads.
Re:Define a user (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd think so but there's a far easier explanation: Companies and people with meaningful business interests (news organisations, PR, etc) fall over themselves to stake a claim to some new property. I have zero interest in Threads, but if I were working in PR I'd be one of the first people registering an account on the off chance that if it becomes popular that I am ready to use it professionally.
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Oh wow, yeah blast from the past. I had a Google+ account. I think I made a single post to my ... what was it... bubble?
Re: Define a user (Score:2)
Click a link? Let me introduce you to onmouseover() and friends.
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This was also how Google Buzz worked, forcing this garbage on every Gmail user, which allowed them to claim 150 million users. The actual number of active users was probably closer to 150.
Mobile only (Score:3)
And it's impossible to quit without deleting your Instagram account
Nope
I wouldn't tough it with a barge pole
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And it's impossible to quit without deleting your Instagram account.
Nope.
Apparently, you can simply deactivate your Threads account w/o it deleting your IG account -- if that helps.
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Touch luck for them
Not... exactly. (Score:3)
They're basically 'defaulting' users into Threads via Instagram. That's not exactly a new user, it's someone who's been coopted.
We've also got accounts of peoples' IG accounts being deleted when they try to delete their Threads account.
Sounds like it should have been implemented as a sidecar/additional feature to IG, to me.... and that it was initially conceived as that. But, they want to "compete" with IG without further fracturing their already tenuous grasp on IG users - who are rapidly moving to less policed, open ended platforms like tiktok.
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who are rapidly moving to less policed, open ended platforms like tiktok.
AND.... thanks to the US Govt, that may not be available much longer, either.
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They're basically 'defaulting' users into Threads via Instagram.
And threatening to close the instagram account if they delete their threads profile.
Defaulted In (Score:2)
Re: Defaulted In (Score:3)
You do have to opt in to threads. The crux is that there is no threads account to delete and people are misrepresenting that. Threads is a Instagram feature you turn on and can turn off. You canâ(TM)t delete your account because there is no account to delete. Its just normal fud.
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Seems strange Threads got so many members today if it is opt-in, not default-in
Makes sense thought, if Meta automatically signed people up they would have litigation up their ass, and they would have shitted all over their already shitty reputation.
Re: Defaulted In (Score:2)
I literally had to down load an app and then sign up and provide a Instagram username. But zuck knew Id be on a 3rd rate tech news aggregator so he had his engineers trick me.
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We've also got accounts of peoples' IG accounts being deleted when they try to delete their Threads account.
Oh my, you chose to use the worst possible word here.
It's accounts all the way down!
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They're basically 'defaulting' users into Threads via Instagram. That's not exactly a new user, it's someone who's been coopted.
No they aren't, you still need to actually engage in the sign up process. You don't magically have a Threads account active if you have Instagram. Better still there is zero pressure on the Instagram side. No notifications, no advertisements, no mention of Threads on my not yet linked account at all.
What you said would make sense if it were happening but it's not the case. In reality this signup is just people who use Twitter professionally staking a claim to a new piece of land in case that land becomes po
Yawn! (Score:2)
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The same addicts using the dealers latest product.
Yeah but the blue stuff is the best. Thanks Heisenberg.
Could've been Bluesky (Score:2)
They had the momentum, they had the cache of not being run by a drooling narcissist or lizardbreath. They could've announced a beta was happening this month on Monday, confirm your email and reserve your username now! But it's too late, now even lizardbreath looks better than whatever the fuck it is Space Karen is doing. At least lizard seems semi competent.
Re:Could've been Bluesky (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, it could have been Bluesky.
I've been trying to get on it since it was announced. I've submitted my email (a few times now), but no invite. Funnily I just got a notification on Twitter that it's my 14yr anniversary there.
Bluesky really shit the bed by not actually adding the people who wanted to be on it. Watch it fade into oblivion.
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I think he's always been there, just more willing to put it on display now.
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They got handed an opening on a silver platter and fucked it up.
Ugh. (Score:2)
F**KING SHEEP. Will never sign up for this service. Barely use Twitter as it is.
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Can your read Threads without an account? (Score:2)
If not, I am not interested.
There's a sucker born every minute (Score:2)
Imagine - all those people effectively saying "How may I serve you, Lord Zuck?". It's fascinating, in the helplessly-watching-a-crime-in-progress kind of way.
It will be interesting to see what this does to Twitter's numbers. I also imagine the EU will put up roadblocks at some point - they already don't like Facebook much, and the company owning still more of the social media landscape will ring some pretty loud bells.
Great example of oligarchy at work (Score:2)
The last time someone tried to compete with facebook or twitter the media instantly declared they were nazis, amazon refused them hosting, google delisted them from search, banks closed their accounts, and payment processors refused to allow them to send or receive money.
Now that an outside owns twitter Facebook was permitted to spin up a "competitor" and it's being artificially propped up in every way possible.
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Really? So Mastodon doesn't exist?
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And it's slandered by the media oligopoly as being full of nazis [archive.is]. Thanks for bringing up an example of literally exactly what I was talking about.
still an open field (Score:3)
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The big advantage Threads has over Bluesky and Mastodon and Spill and everyone else is that it is owned by Facebook/Meta, and therefore it can leverage Facebook/Meta's massive existing infrastructure to scale up quickly, and Instagram's massive existing user base to onboard people with close to zero effort.
Those advantages aren't available to new startups, so the open field is actually not all that open.
mixed feelings. (Score:2)
Doesn't matter (Score:1)
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Employees and bots (Score:2)
Re: In other news... (Score:2, Funny)
Zuckerbergs sink ships.