Threads app gains popularity, but it comes with some privacy concerns

Marketplace Tech

American Public Media

Technology, News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The hot, new thing in social media is not really that new at all. And that’s kind of the point. The app Threads from Meta looks like a familiar blend of Twitter and Instagram. It’s attracted more than 100 million users in less than a week, pulling way ahead of Twitter alternatives like Mastodon or Bluesky, in large part because it’s part of an already established social media brand. You don’t have to start from scratch on Threads; just log in with your Instagram credentials and import all your follows with the push of a button. But there’s some baggage that comes along with that Insta network, said Shirin Ghaffary, a senior correspondent at Vox who covers social media. She talked about it with Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Marketplace Morning Report's new Skin in the Game series explores what we can learn about
0:04.6	money and careers from the $300 billion video game industry. Plus, here how an Oakland-based
0:11.0	program helps young people get the skills they need to break into this booming industry.
0:15.9	Listen to Skin in the Game and more from the Marketplace Morning Report wherever you get your
0:20.7	podcasts. Is the new Threads app really a Twitter killer or the last gasp of a dying social media
0:29.4	model? From American public media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty-Korino.
0:44.0	The hot new thing in social media is not really that new at all and that's kind of the
0:50.4	point. The app Threads from Metta looks like a familiar blend of Twitter and Instagram.
0:57.6	It's attracted more than 100 million users in less than a week, pulling way ahead of Twitter
1:02.9	alternatives like mastodon or blue sky. In large part because it's part of an already established
1:10.0	social media brand. You don't have to start from scratch on Threads. Just log in with your
1:15.5	Instagram credentials and import all your follows with the push of a button. But there's some
1:21.6	baggage that comes along with that instant network. Shearine Gaffari, a senior correspondent at
1:27.9	Vox who covers social media. On the one hand, a lot of people are frustrated with Twitter and
1:33.2	they want an alternative. On the other, the alternative is an app that is owned and controlled by
1:38.7	the largest social media company in the world. So it does kind of feel like there's not a real
1:44.5	upstart competitor. I think the closest thing we have to that is TikTok. So yeah, it really does
1:50.0	feel like it's a war between two big tech titans here. And I mean, what are some of the implications
1:57.1	of having maybe all of your social networks be under one parent company, Metta?
2:04.4	Already you can see how Threads is pulling data from Instagram. It's pulling your friend
2:10.1	network. Now you're doing that willingly because you're logging into Threads with your Instagram
2:14.9	credentials. But I will say that I think smartly, Metta slash Instagram has decided to say that
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