Staff Reports
Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt to take on Elon Musk’s Twitter with his own knockoff app called Threads appears to be failing. Despite a staggering number of sign-ups in the beginning, Threads quickly became a joke and lost its momentum. Many users who had initially left Twitter for Threads soon found themselves returning to Twitter, realizing that Threads couldn’t compete with Musk’s app, now rebranded as “X.” According to Business Insider, even half of Threads’ new users didn’t stick around after signing up. Now, Threads is trying to win back users by adding missing features and creating hooks to get users addicted.
Zuckerberg's Twitter Killer Is Already Dying https://t.co/BTpjoldELz
— RedState (@RedState) August 1, 2023
But the real issue with Threads, and the reason for its drop-off, is trust. People trust Musk far more than they trust Zuckerberg. Facebook has a reputation for censoring certain political ideologies that benefit the left, while Twitter has faced criticism for its own censorship practices. For many Americans, the lack of trust in Zuckerberg and his censorship policies is enough to lead them back to using Musk’s app, X. If people don’t trust Threads, then all the hooks and features won’t save it.
Zuckerberg can do whatever he wants to try to compete with X, but he won’t stop censoring people to serve the needs of a singular political party. Until he addresses this issue, Threads will continue to fail in the competitive social media landscape. Musk remains the king of this mountain, and if rumors of additional features coming to X are true, he will continue to hold that position for a long time.
