Meta’s vision for Threads is more mega-mall than public square. Instagram and now Threads are obsessively designed to shuffle normal users together with brands, encouraging commercial activity at every turn. While the app is making an impressive debut, most social media experts say TikTok reigns as the new global town square. Meta hopes to become the go-to platform for public discourse, but its app comes as Elon Musk’s chaotic rule at Twitter has many looking for a new platform.
Adam Mosseri‘s view of Threads as a virtual public square is also flawed. Instagram and Threads are primarily designed to promote commercial activity. The vision is a place to have people spend time looking at ads. They don’t care what you’re looking at as long as you see the ads. The app is designed to shuffle normal users together with brands, encouraging commercial activity at every turn.
Threads is more of a mega-mall than a public square, and Meta’s vision for the app is to become the go-to platform for public discourse. However, the app is primarily designed to promote commercial activity. The vision is a place to have people spend time looking at ads. They don’t care what you’re looking at as long as you see the ads.
In the latest sign that Meta’s new Twitter lookalike Threads is unlikely to capture the essence of its predecessor, the company is apparently actively trying to make the app more like a shopping mall than a public square. The app is designed to shuffle normal users together with brands, encouraging commercial activity at every turn. The vision is a place to have people spend time looking at ads. They don’t care what you’re looking at as long as you see the ads.
While Meta’s new Threads app is making an impressive debut, most social media experts say TikTok reigns as the new global town square and the app is primarily designed to promote commercial activity. Meta hopes to become the go-to platform for public discourse, but its app comes as Elon Musk’s chaotic rule at Twitter has many looking for a new platform.
