Despite the hullabaloo about Meta’s new Threads app being a “Twitter Killer,” after the initial rush to get on the platform, the reception has been lukewarm. Left-wing pundits and journos who breathlessly ran over to Threads to escape the oppression of Twitter and the evil Elon Musk seem to do not much on the new app but complain and discuss how horrible Twitter and its CEO are.

Kind of like your girlfriend always complaining about her ex. Doesn’t portend well for developing a healthy relationship.

Whether Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg realized it or not, the name of his new text-based social media platform, Threads, is the perfect metaphor for the new platform we’ve all been craving. Will it be sewn into something beautiful or just another tangled mess that needs to be swept up?

Elon Musk’s decisions at the helm of Twitter and the longstanding issues surrounding the lack of controls against bullies and bots have disgusted millions of users. But is jumping ship to a new platform — owned by a flawed company that has not cleaned up its own issues — the way we want to engage?

So far, the tangled mess is winning. Since I have an actual brand (“As the Girl Turns”), I make it a point to claim my social media footprint on any relevant platform I can. But aside from posting and occasionally checking the feed, I have ZERO interest in Zuck’s latest attempt to monitor and control the world. As this article points out, Zuckerberg is the last person to be trusted to keep you or your information safe or to engender an environment that allows for freedom of expression:

Social media fashions have changed from when we first logged on over a decade ago. We are no longer excited by chaos, stunts or gimmicks, or learning basic HTML to customize our backgrounds on MySpace. Many of us just want an uncluttered, simple social platform that’s bully and bot free, and isn’t trying to sell us stuff we don’t want or need. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, knows this, and was quoted in The New York Times saying he wants “Threads to be a ‘friendly place’ for public conversation.”

But is that even possible, given that Threads has seemingly already fallen short on protections? After my first day on Threads, I already faced issues that have plagued Twitter — a blatantly similar type of platform — for years. I had fake profiles and bots already following my account.

Then there is the already blatant censorship of conservatives on Facebook spreading like a fungus on Threads, as my colleague Nick Arama has reported:

Among the people who faced some immediate censorship was Donald Trump Jr. Like some others from the right side of the aisle, if you tried to follow him, a message popped up asking the user, “Are you sure you want to follow donaldjtrumpjr?” The message also claimed, “This account has repeatedly posted false information that was reviewed by independent fact-checkers or went against our Community Guidelines.”

Of course, Trump Jr. went over to Twitter to point out the irony of a platform that’s supposed to thrive on actual conversation shutting down… conversation.

Threads not exactly off to a great start. Hey Instagram, threads is verbal, so the whole skimpy bikini thing is not going to work so well if your influencers can’t actually formulate a sentence… IMHO you may want to rethink cutting off those who can. pic.twitter.com/vBKIOjg8Z8

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 6, 2023

Meta is also being mum about whether Threads will protect user privacy with third-party apps with whom it shares data. How many people actually bother to read the terms of service when they sign on to an app? There is much history of Zuckerberg selling Facebook and Instagram data to the highest bidder. Accordingly, not much will change with Threads:

But experts are warning of potential privacy concerns, particularly in the way Meta handles the data it collects from users when they subscribe to the new service. This includes sharing it with other platforms, including ones that may not have as strict data privacy protections, or that could even have servers in China.

Buried in the terms of service is a pledge to soon make Threads part of the “fediverse” – a decentralized network of servers that allows member social networks, like Mastodon, to communicate with each other. For example, a Threads user would be able to interact with a Mastodon user seamlessly, despite being on different platforms.

[…]

Once the app is a part of the fediverse, Meta says: “Please be aware that you are directing us to deliver your information to services not controlled by Meta… Information sent to Third Party Services is no longer in Meta’s control and is subject to the terms and policies of those Third Party Services.”

The terms of service are predictably vague on what data gets shared, carefully worded to allow the most flexibility and protect Meta from liability. And once the data is out there, users may have no recourse.

“Fediverse” sounds absolutely creepy. Zuckerberg is attempting to evoke Star Trek and is instead conjuring Person of Interest.

Yet hope springs eternal, especially among the crowd that loves the idea of restricted speech and controlled opposition. Leftist actor (but I repeat myself) and has-been Ron Perlman has declared he is done with Twitter and plans to join Threads for its much less toxic environment, which I am sure will change once Perlman gets over there.

Breaking…I’m taking my business to THREADS. Haters stay the fuck out.

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) July 10, 2023

No one is crying. No one cares. What has he done since Hellboy, anyway? Perlman will be back, just like this ABC journalist from Australia who made a big to-do about departing Twitter on Friday.

So I’m done here I’m on threads
Same name bye #auspol

— Patricia Karvelas (@PatsKarvelas) July 6, 2023

Only to crawl back not even a week later.

Less than a week after swearing off Twitter for good in favour of Mark Zuckerberg’s new Threads app, ABC journalist Patricia Karvelas has returned to Elon Musk’s platform.

Karvelas announced her departure from Twitter on Friday, in a tweet declaring that she was “done” with the platform, informing her left-wing audience that she could now be found on Threads instead.

However, after just a few days, the ABC Radio National host had suddenly reappeared on Twitter – advising that she would resume posting daily there again – still attempting to save face by stating that “if you want proper engagement I’m at the other place”.

Proper engagement. If she was getting any engagement at all on Threads, she would never have come back to Twitter. Desperate for attention, they will quit Twitter when they stop virtue-signaling, which will be on the 12th of Never.

People have reached out and asked me to post daily videos here still. So I will – but if you want proper engagement I’m at the other place @RNBreakfast #auspol pic.twitter.com/Rja9UCNBPQ

— Patricia Karvelas (@PatsKarvelas) July 10, 2023

Even with Threads’ anemic offerings, Zuckerberg has the advertiser game down, while Musk continues to struggle with a solid bench of committed sponsors. Then there is the question of whether Threads has stolen proprietary functionality from Twitter. With the firing and exodus of programmers and staff at Twitter since Musk’s takeover, that was bound to be an issue with some platform at some point. Whether Threads begins to dominate or fades into the woodwork like Bluesky Social and Mastadon will be the deciding factor on whether the issue, along with the subsequent lawsuits, grows.

In the meantime, the whole brouhaha between Musk and Zuckerberg is spawning all types of Mean Girl comparisons. But our own Jim Thompson expressed it best.