Passing on Threads for now
Threads isn’t ready for primetime.
Meta’s Treads isn’t worth the bother…yet
Like a zillion other folks, I installed Threads from Meta last weekend. I lasted about thirty-six hours before taking it off my phone. As the list of things about the platform I didn’t like grew, I gave up. Some items I didn’t like, below.
Instagram connection
While it made sense for Meta to tie their Twittah buster to Instagram, Meta made a poor choice in featuring Instagram “influencers” so prominently in the home feed of Threads. If I want to see Instagram Performers, I can go to IG. if I want Mr. Beast. I come to Da Twittah to talk to people.
User Interface
The home feed’s a mess with all the Perfrormers. The “notifications” section is also problematic. When you follow someone on Threads, you see posts from folks they reply to, before you see the reply. So, I’m reading something that the person I follow thinks is interesting, but it might not be to me. I don’t even know how that post got in my feed until I scroll past it. That increases my temptation to shitpost someone spouting nonsense. Oh, I know, that “nonsense” might not be viewed as such by my realtor, human resource, and social media friends, but context is important. If I see their posts first, I know to move along.
The other UI goofy “feature” I found amusing is the “Tweet this” button. While one Performer thought this was the height of petty on part of Meta, it’s a good example of an unfinished package. You make a post on Threads and want to share it on the other platform. So, you click the button, and it brings you over to Da Twittah. You share your post, but now you’re back on Twitter. There’s no return to the original platform! Not sure that’s what Meta wants.
API
The lack of an API at this time is inconvenient. I use Dlvr It to post to multiple platforms simultaneously. I can hit Twitter, Facebook, IG, and Mastodon from a single posting. It also picks up the RSS feeds of my blogs and shares those. To get something over to Meta’s new platform, I have to manually go back for it.
The bottom line is, I’m out, but may be back when it becomes a usable platform.
