The question of whether the app will replace Twitter has been around ever since talk about Threads began to appear in people’s news feeds. Millions of people downloaded the app when it first came out, and it was clear that Twitter owner Elon Musk and new CEO Linda Yaccarino weren’t pleased with how widely it had been adopted. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has stated that the “response to Twitter” is not intended to displace the Musk-owned microblogging platform, so the Tesla CEO may now breathe a sigh of relief.
Musk may not be satisfied with this, as Threads is predicted to lessen Twitter’s resemblance, but Mosseri identified a key element that sets the two programs apart. He claimed that contrary to what Twitter is renowned for in the media, the Threads app “is not going to do anything to encourage” politics and “hard news.” People use Twitter to interact with current events and news in real time.
“Replacing Twitter is not the intention. The intention is to establish a public forum for communities on Instagram that have never fully adopted Twitter as well as for groups on Twitter (and other platforms) interested in a less combative space for discourse, but not for all of Twitter, he stated in a discussion on discussion.
“Politics and hard news are inevitably going to show up on Threads – they have on Instagram as well to some extent, but we’re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals,” he continued.
Mosseri’s remarks are noteworthy because he formerly oversaw Facebook’s News Feed. He therefore possesses a solid understanding of the fundamentals of social media news.
No updates on Facebook or Instagram
Additionally, on Facebook and Instagram, Meta has been willing to distance itself from news and politics. In response to a new regulation in Canada, the firm last year removed the word “News” from the name of the Facebook Feed, and most recently, it has prohibited businesses from sharing news items online.
According to the law, social media companies like Google and Meta are required to work with publishers and pay them for posting their content on their platforms.
Threads is for content creators
The major goal of Threads is to recruit content creators, Mosseri said in a recent interview with The Verge. The app might “be a more compelling platform for creators, particularly for the newer creators who are more and more savvy,” he claimed.
Is it possible for politics and news to stay out of Threads?
Politics and journalism will inevitably find their way into Threads as more news organizations and politicians sign up for the platforms. Axios reports that a number of US officials have already registered on the network connected to Instagram.
The two most well-known political parties in India already have accounts on Threads that are associated with them. It remains to be seen how unaffected by politics and news the platform will be with the presidential election of 2024 and the Lok Sabha election coming up the following year.
