Threads Launches In the European Union (macrumors.com) 27
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads is now available to users in the European Union. "Today we're opening Threads to more countries in Europe," wrote Zuckerberg in a post on the platform. "Welcome everyone." MacRumors reports: The move comes five months after the social media network launched in most markets around the world, but remained unavailable to EU-based users due to regulatory hurdles. [...] In addition to creating a Threads profile for posting, users in the EU can also simply browse Threads without having an Instagram account, an option likely introduced to comply with legislation surrounding online services.
The expansion into a market of 448 million people should see Threads' user numbers get a decent boost. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a company earnings call in October that Threads now has "just under" 100 million monthly users. Since its launch earlier this year it has gained a web app, an ability to search for posts, and a post editing feature.
The expansion into a market of 448 million people should see Threads' user numbers get a decent boost. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a company earnings call in October that Threads now has "just under" 100 million monthly users. Since its launch earlier this year it has gained a web app, an ability to search for posts, and a post editing feature.
Anyone know when X (Score:3)
As for threads, I don't use it, but I gather the problem is they weighted advertisers too heavily in their algorithm, so it's nearly impossible to get anything interesting in your feed, instead mostly getting Wendy's arguing with Burger King. That lead to people abandoning it in droves after the initial excitement.
Threads' privacy policy is insane (Score:4, Insightful)
They're apparently shlurping everything on your phone. SMS's, photos, everything.
I wouldn't use it on a phone. I won't even install FB. Use it in a browser if you have to and check permissions.
Good description of the EU. Part of the problem is they generally want 27 different countries to agree on something before acting.
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They're apparently shlurping everything on your phone. SMS's, photos, everything.
I wouldn't use it on a phone. I won't even install FB. Use it in a browser if you have to and check permissions.
Good description of the EU. Part of the problem is they generally want 27 different countries to agree on something before acting.
A bit like 50 states? Sometimes the US makes the EU look positively quick.
Also that number is likely to be 30 soon enough, Moldova and Ukraine are looking at membership and it's only a matter of time before the UK wants to rejoin (most in the UK already want to, but the Tories need to make sure things get a bit worse in the UK first).
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I’m thinking (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly which problem does this solve for me?
If it was launched together with the rest of the world I would’ve tried and it back then; out of curiosity,
But by now I’ve already seen that it’s a failure elsewhere, so I’m not going to bother investing time in it now.
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Exactly.
To me, it's also a matter of pride. If Zuck and his minions treat me like a second class citizen, which doesn't have access to a product based on some crap decision of theirs, I'm not interested. Unless it's a really great product, in which case I'll swallow my pride and grab it. However, I can't recall when did THAT last happen.
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So which is the crap decision, "we're not going to break EU law" or "we'll release it elsewhere so folks can use it while we work on obeying EU law"?
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You don't have to obey EU laws to reach EU customers. It can make it easier to do business there, but that's about it. Kiwifarms likely commits every EU internet crime they have a law for, but that never stopped anybody.
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I was SURE somebody would come with this ridiculous argument.
It's not as if the EU suddenly came, 5 days before launch, to impose some new, never-heard-of-before rule completely by surprise.
Meta knew about the requirements, they darn well did. And if, by some very improbable chance, they didn't, they should fire all their lawyers.
No, Meta knew and they knowingly chose to go ahead with requiring an Instagram account anyway, hoping to generate enough pressure from EU citizens towards EU legislators and get so
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I'm sure they did know about the law. That doesn't change the fact that it's vastly easier and faster to build a short-form text platform on top of an existing account management system than to spin up a new account management system.
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Nope, that does not fly. There already was an existing account management system (Facebook) available, but no, they HAD to boost their Instagram account counts.
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Wouldn't using the FB account system run into the same problem with EU law as the IG account system?
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The problem was in fact incompatibility with the data privacy rules of the EU, which in fact is independent of whether one would use account X or account Y to use a certain product.
My bad.
However, the point remains: Meta knew what the limitations and rules were. They chose to go ahead regardless, and open Threads to EU later. That's fine, their choice, but if a company launches a product with geofencing, it has to be a gorram good product for me to even consider it. Which Threads is not.
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Exactly which problem does this solve for me?
None. Social media doesn't exist to solve problems, most things don't. It exists to create a communications space, the only problem you have is if people use it to communicate and you don't pay attention to it (though in reality you'll not miss anything important).
But by now I’ve already seen that it’s a failure elsewhere, so I’m not going to bother investing time in it now.
From it's launch despite being only in a small subset of restricted markets it has amassed a following that took other social media systems literal years to achieve. Opening to a new market is only going to make that following larger. Adding thing
This is why I like it (Score:3)
I seriously Do Not want a Threads account of my own, but there are/were X/Twitter accounts I like to read. Elmo started blocking X/Twitter unless people registered and are logged in. No thank you. No doubt the accounts I like to read will go to Threads and I can read anonymously with a browser, like before.
For example Elmo's jet tracker is on Threads [threads.net] now. Oh wow! Now I can follow Taylor Swift's jet [threads.net] too.
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"Threads" (Score:3)
Stupid name, and don't argue otherwise. Had a smaller company tried using something so aggressively generic in a time of absolutely fucked-by-SEO-race-to-the-bottom search results, it'd be dead on arrival. That a big company would run with it just speaks to the milquetoast cultural wasteland it has in place of any values or vision. The product is an answer to a problem that doesn't exist: the inconveniences of the Fediverse's design combined with the Zuckerberg's regard for users who'd trust Zuckerberg.
Re:"Threads" (Score:5, Insightful)
Stupid name
"X" is significantly worse.
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It's amazing how bad FB is yet still has a massive monopoly on long-form social media.
The UI is worse than a couple of years ago and still has a major desync bug on posting.
The ad proportion is insane (I run FB Purity).
You only get to see about 70 FBriends posts for no apparent reason.
There are currently no available human moderators.
There's no tech support period.
I was shadowbanned because of another bug for 9 months.
It's a 800MB website FFS.
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No thanks. Let Facebook fail. Don't try and fix it. No one wants it anymore.
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moot
Not Needed (Score:2)
I don't think another Facebook or Instagram is needed, especially coming from Zuck. His platforms are all over-censored. I'm fine with X, but I'm not a social-media head and use it very, very sporadically. Now I remembered I have Facebook, too. Due to over-censoring I banned it from my book. :) Read, I almost got banned for rather trivial posts, so I decided not to use it anymore.
Anyway, I have a feeling Zuck wants to start this Threads thing because Facebook is not nearly successful as it used to be 10-ish