I wrote a couple of days ago about my early thoughts on Threads. Overall, I was pretty optimistic about how it could turn out. It's an alternative to Twitter, it could be another boost for the ActivityPub protocol, and it could mean people on Mastodon would be able to connect to more people.
However, as much as I wasn't planning on replacing either of my Mastodon or Twitter use with Threads, I'm still left a bit disappointed by the launch. I'm now doubting whether I'll be using it at all.
Sure, it's just a 1.0, but it's still a massively subpar experience.
I was expecting it to be "Twitter, by Instagram", with emphasis on the Twitter. Instead, it's the other way around.
To me, Threads takes one of the most annoying parts of Instagram, the algorithmic timeline, makes it worse, and then provides it as the foundation of a new social network.
Algorithmic feeds can work, and there are certainly benefits to them. But as a primary way of interacting with people on your platform? That seems a little weird. Especially when it's not limited to the people that you choose to follow.
What's the point of "following" someone on a social network, when you're just going to see content from everyone else anyway? Is it just to give the algorithm a little nudge?
Anyway, as you can see, I'm not exactly a fan of Threads at the moment.
Maybe it can get better? Then again, it could also get worse
I think there's still reason to be optimistic about a possible ActivityPub integration. But as for using Threads itself, I don't think I'll be doing that very much.
Update (16:30): While I am still unsure if Threads will work for me long-term. I wonder if it would be more beneficial to me as a replacement to Instagram, rather than Twitter or Mastodon.