
Introducing Threads - runesoerensen
https://instagram-press.com/blog/2019/10/03/introducing-threads/
======
SamuelAdams
Remember "Poke" or "Slingshot"? I wonder how this will be different this time
around. There's already an app on the Apple Store called "Threads", so I'm
sure having the same name as an established app will not help any.

[https://www.engadget.com/2014/06/17/facebook-
slingshot/](https://www.engadget.com/2014/06/17/facebook-slingshot/)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Slingshot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Slingshot)

[https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2012/12/introducing-poke-for-
mo...](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2012/12/introducing-poke-for-mobile/)

~~~
azr79
Remember bolt?

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sidcool
I am not a fan of Facebook, in fact quite the contrary. But you do have to
give them one credit, they understand Social very well. HN audience is not
something FB targets. The world outside HN is quite different and loves FB,
Instagram etc.

~~~
untog
I actually don't think that's true at all. Facebook has been caught sleeping
again and again with the latest social trends. This new trend of private,
group communication seems to be something that's completely caught them off
guard and now they're trying to catch up.

~~~
kristianc
> This new trend of private, group communication seems to be something that's
> completely caught them off guard and now they're trying to catch up.

I'd bet that there's more of that happening on WhatsApp than any other app in
the world, possibly by an order of magnitude.

~~~
untog
Absolutely. And acquiring WhatsApp is another example of them being on the
back foot and having to catch up.

~~~
paulddraper
At a certain size, companies innovate through thoughtful acquisitions.

You can't separate the company WhatsApp from the company Facebook because they
are the same company FB.

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hmhrex
Looks like Facebook is after Marco Polo now -
[https://www.marcopolo.me/](https://www.marcopolo.me/)

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creyes
I typically like having less apps on my phone rather than more. This feels
like when Facebook spun off Messenger, I just stopped using it on my phone

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m12k
I did the opposite: Kept Messenger and got rid of the Facebook app. That way,
when someone wants to talk to me, I don't get sucked into the void of their
newsfeed - so it becomes just one more communication app alongside iMessage,
Telegram, Whatsapp and Discord for me.

~~~
chungus_khan
I just wish those services exposed a chat protocol that I could connect to
from a single messaging app. I'd straight up pay for access to such a thing.

~~~
bikezen
It's not a protocol, but an app, but bitlbee and even pidgin tend to support a
lot of these various chat services with plugins.

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blueish
Some people may not see the use case, but the popularity of SNAP has shown
that there is a user base for this product. What's interesting to me is
Facebook's decision to completely copy the use case in an attempt to capture
the market. They've tried to do so with Instagram Stories & DMs, as referenced
to by the post, but I'm curious about the rationale to make it a standalone
app, which would hurt adoption.

I suppose the idea is the entry point - Instagram's entry point is viewing
content, not creating content (the feed is the first thing that shows up when
opening the app). Threads is the same as SNAP in that the first entrypoint is
to create content: it opens the camera.

It'll be interesting to see if this can succeed in finally pushing SNAP out,
as one benefit for users is leveraging the existing social graph from
Instagram, whereas you must add people for SNAP.

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ssorallen
I wonder if this is part of the plan to merge messaging on Instagram,
Facebook, and WhatsApp. Pull out the final messaging platform that doesn't
have its own app and then begin merging Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp into
one.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/facebook-
insta...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/facebook-instagram-
whatsapp-messenger.html)

I'm actually happy to install this so I can delete Instagram. I keep Instagram
around because some friends only message me through that.

~~~
icebraining
That article says the apps will remain separate, only the backend will be the
same. You don't need to separate Threads out of IG to use that unified
backend.

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Tarrosion
What are the demographics of the targeted or expected audience?

n=1 this doesn't appeal to me; why would I want to fragment my communications
further? But I could believe that teenagers would use this more; I've read
that many young people today aren't on a single monolithic platform like FB or
Instagram but instead have different social apps for different friend groups
or parts of their lives.

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olah_1
This is consistent with 2 major trends in social networking projects:

1\. The closer the relationship the faster the communication

2\. Different levels of privacy should be in different UI spaces entirely
(fiddling with privacy settings on posts is not how we think about privacy in
real life)

I think both are great ideas that extend natural human relationships and
communication rather than forcing people into unnatural modes.

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rattray
This seems very directly targeted at teens, competitive with the constant-
social use of "find my friends". My impression is that many youngsters keep
shockingly close tabs on each other, which this seems built to enable.

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antpls
So, what's the difference between WhatsApp, FB Messenger and Threads? They all
allow to message a selected list of contact, send videos and have a status,
all owned by FB. What's the strategy here?

~~~
umeshunni
Different audiences.

Whatsapp is for non-US general population. FB Messenger is for US general
population. Threads is for US and non-US Gen-Z and below.

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wDcBKgt66V8WDs
I don't understand the positioning. So it's instagram but only with friends
and with status as an option? Why couldn't they change instagram to filter on
friends or something?

~~~
danhak
It’s another direct shot at Snapchat.

They’ve already tried the “close friends” feature with Instagram stories.
Anecdotally, hardly anyone is using it.

~~~
ricardobeat
A good chunk of my friends use stories daily. It's the new facebook for 30+
year olds :)

~~~
dewey
I think he means the "Close friends" feature of stories, not stories in
general. These are the stories with the green circle around them.

~~~
danhak
Yes thank you that’s what I’m talking about.

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ariel_h
Hope it won't become Deads

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deepsun
2 moderators: can we have a better title? I was expecting to see something
about concurrency and multi-threading.

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zinclozenge
SNAP stock fell 5% on the announcement, it recovered by about 2% but still a
big drop.

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dsalzman
This is the app to compete with TickTock from the leaked FB all hands meeting

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kissgyorgy
Finally! I really missed yet another chat app which can even more divide all
my communications with my friends! So good! The world needed this very much!

~~~
nnd
The issue is not so much the diversity of clients, but fragmentation caused by
proprietary protocols they use.

~~~
ASalazarMX
I still miss the few years where Trillian talked all instant messaging
protocols. Jabber had a brief shot at unifying them, but no dotcom wants to be
a commodity.

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sarcasmatwork
>Threads is a standalone app designed with privacy, speed and your close
connections in mind.

I dont believe you FB. Prove it! This all clear text or there encryption?

~~~
SamuelAdams
It was designed "in mind", meaning, they thought about it but didn't actually
do anything about it.

/s

~~~
caleb-allen
I party with safe alcohol consumption in mind

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crimsonalucard
Why in the world would programmers name a feature after a programming
primitive?

I'm gonna make a new chat app called deadlock.

~~~
untog
Why in the world would Microsoft name an operating system after a UI
primitive? Doomed to failure, I tell you.

~~~
crimsonalucard
The UI primitive was named after the operating system.

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vasili111
I live without any social network. I use only Skype/phone for voice calls and
rarely some messaging with Whatsap for messaging and that is all my online
communication (except work email). I am pretty happy.

~~~
acheron
Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television

[https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-
he-d...](https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-
own-a-televisi-1819565469)

