In the ever-evolving race of social media, Instagram's Threads is preparing to counter X (previously known as Twitter) with its latest feature: Trends. A leaked screenshot, mistakenly posted by a Threads employee, gave us a sneak peek at what looks like a lineup of trending topics with active "thread" counts. This included highlights like Drake's latest album release and Disney+'s new season of Loki.
While Instagram remains tight-lipped about this feature, it's evident that Threads aims to attract more users from the tumultuous world of X, currently under Elon Musk's leadership. But Threads isn't the only one trying to tap into X's user base. Mastodon, Bluesky, Pebble, and Spill are just a few trying their luck.
Threads, since its explosive start on July 5, has witnessed a declining user base. However, the app isn't resting on its laurels. With continuous feature rollouts, Threads is ambitiously trying to recreate the real-time discussions and news updates that make X a powerhouse.
Despite the push for more features, Threads has been rather cautious, especially with sensitive terms like "covid" and "vaccination" blocked from its search feature. This protective approach might be because of Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg's vision for Threads as a "positive, friendly place for discussion," distancing it from X's sometimes critical nature.
However, the real question remains: Will the addition of Trends truly give Threads the edge it needs to compete with X? Early stats show Threads lagging, with only 135 million global monthly active users, compared to X's staggering 666 million. Only time will tell if Threads can rise to challenge the microblogging giant.
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