Facebook's new "threads" is overhyped

Adding text adds little to the toxic Instagram application

Instagram has been popular with kids. It is also a dangerous place for kids. The dangers of Instagram are now well-known - Bing returns this list.

The talking heads on BNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC and other business media are agog that after a week or so “Threads” has 100 million users. Instagram reportedly has 2 billion users and no one should wet their pants because 5% of those users already like the ability to add some words to their photos and videos. The “experts” on “technology” stocks are eager to call Threads a “Twitter killer” which is laughable really. Twitter is used by adults to communicate news, political views, ideas on investments and items of interest. Twitter’s real value is the absence of pimply-faced teenagers posting silly videos often created with filters. Amusing, but of little real value. On Twitter, you can follow key scientists, political leaders, medical experts, market experts and interesting people. On Instagram, which is little more than sister application “Reels”, you can entertain yourself about the same way many used Tik Tok and ignore the real world. By the time you become an adult, you should start paying attention to the real world.

It is no surprise to me that Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the world’s richest people by enabling families to share photos of their kids with their extended families and grandparents and merchants to advertise with Facebook’s powerful ability to target users by postal code, sex, level of income, etc. which must be one of the best marketing tools in existence. Instagram has a similar ability with or without text. But Twitter serves a different market and is unlikely to suffer much from people subscribing to Threads.

The only argument I have heard that suggests a threat to other social media is the finite amount of time busy people have to spend on social media and it is unlikely anyone with a job has time to spend on all social media, so they much choose among them. I think Threads makes Facebook more useful to its current user base and more powerful for pedophiles and other predators who use the Facebook platforms for their disgusting abuse of children, and don’t see Threads causing a flood of people to drop Twitter in favour of Threads.

Having said all that, Facebook (I still don’t call the company Meta which is a silly name based on a silly idea that a virtual world is more interesting than a real one) is very valuable and Threads will increase user engagement even if it adds few new users. The distraction of the Metaverse cost the company billions but management was smart enough to realize it was squandering its time and money, and is now focused on engagement. That suggests Facebook may be undervalued.