Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is coming out with a copy of Twitter to rival Elon Musk’s takeover trophy Twitter.
This effectively means that the Metaverse project is a dumpster fire.
Twitter is the town square of the world.
Every big name with clout has a direct voice open to the world on Twitter and nowhere else.
Apparently, Zuckerberg wants the same.
Instagram is not a bad asset, but it's more of a photo collage that acts as a dating profile to the whole world.
World leaders don’t use Instagram which matters so I don’t believe this will be a slugfest – more of a strong whimper.
Facebook’s new product will be called “Threads.”
In short, it’s basically a texting version of Instagram.
Instagram users will be able to keep their user names and follow the same accounts on the new app, according to screenshots displayed on the App Store listing.
Threads won’t make many inroads against Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion and has brilliantly purged a useless workforce and added a slew of new advertisers to his new app.
The success has been so good that he has claimed that Twitter will soon be profitable.
Allowing Instagram users to port their profile to Threads could give the new app more traction with potential users by providing a ready-made set of accounts for them to follow.
However, I believe it’s a bad idea because these services will compete with each other and users will be cannibalized.
Interestingly enough, the mainstream media has been printing negative articles on Musk since the day he bought Tesla because Musk has been highly vocal against left wing investors that own major publications like Bill Gates and George Soros.
It’s smart that Musk took Twitter private because a public Twitter would need to navigate his critical tweet storms and dealing with unhappy shareholders.
Most users might be put off by Meta’s data privacy track record and would-be Twitter challengers like Mastodon have found it a challenge to sign up users.
For Threads to succeed, it will need to poach Twitter users.
Pew Research found last year that among U.S. adults who use Twitter, the top 25% of users by tweet volume produced 97% of all tweets. Musk isn’t going to cede Twitter’s role in the social-media ecosystem lightly, if his early reactions to Meta’s plans are anything to go by.
From my analysis, Twitter does a relatively good job with its platform.
At the very minimum, the Twitter experience isn’t such a bad experience to the point where it will bleed users.
I don’t exactly understand where Thread’s advantage is here and how they will cheaply steal Twitter’s business.
If they do steal Twitter’s business, the cost will be extremely cumbersome.
For me, the only way I envision Twitter capitulating is with a self-inflicted wound.
Twitter is stronger than ever not only as a revenue model but also its scarcity value which is at an all-time high.
There is a reason why Zuckerberg is going after Twitter and not the other way around.
Twitter is the best social media app on the market and the so-called negativity of Twitter by coastal journalism has sour grapes written all over it.
Zuckerberg’s Thread has a higher chance of stealing Instagram users.
That being said, Meta shares have had an outstanding 2023 and even if this is another soccer-like flop like the Metaverse, it won’t materially damage the stocks’ trajectory. Buy META on the dip.
