Hanging By a Thread
Meta/Facebooks/Instagram's new challenger to Twitter is unimpressive, and it will suck your data and access your camera. It's the worst of all our social media networks, and it's not close.
Like about 100 million of you (I wish I had that many followers), I quickly signed up for Facebook’s new entry into social media to compete directly with Twitter, Thread.net.
I did it so you don’t have to. And I’m likely to terminate my account and, with it, my seldom-used Instagram. Facebook itself may not be far behind, with my increasingly annoying feed of ads that keep me from the posts of friends I can rarely find.
Don’t bother downloading Threads; if you have, get rid of it. Despite its reach, it’s not a serious competitor to Twitter or any other social media network. It may have a future, but Facebook rolled it out too early with little thought and planning. Frankly, it is embarrassing.
My reader (with apologies for not posting much lately - way too much travel and house shopping) may know that when I publish, I share it across various social media outlets. Aside from Twitter (@KHostages), I’m on USA.life, GETTR, Truth Social, NotTheBee.Com (their social channel), Gab, Clouthub, MeWe, and Substack’s estimable Notes, my favorite. Sometimes I’ll add Mastadon, Retalk.com and CaucusRoom, but I don’t have them figured out yet.
Here’s what you need to know about Threads, assembled by Facebook and based almost entirely on their popular photo-oriented Instagram platform. Whoever you follow there is immediately notified, if you so opt, that you are following them. But Thread’s algorithm needs a ton of work. They’ve added accounts to follow that do not match your interest. Certainly not mine. I don’t have the time or patience for it, nor see the value.
For starters, accounts such as Planned Parenthood and a host of weird randos with vapid and often profane, if not indecipherable, posts. I spent several hours on a plane ride back from Barcelona, muting hundreds of accounts I didn’t want to see on my feed, and I’m hardly done. I’ve decided that it is not worth it. Here’s what you’re likely to see on your Threads feed. Not sure about you, but this is uninteresting in spades.
Second, Facebook is no respecter of your privacy. Remember, it’s how they make money, sucking up considerable personal information about you and selling it. And there’s no limit to what they can collect and sell. BusinessInsider.com:
Threads, Meta's competitor for Twitter, has already registered millions of users — but the app collects more data than unwary internet surfers might realize.
Threads allows third-party services or sites to access some user data without controls from Meta, something it regulates more heavily in its other products, such as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Portal. This means that users have less control over their data and may not know where it winds up.
In its general privacy policy — which applies to all Meta Products — Meta lays out a long list of data it collects from you when you use its products.
Beyond being able to access your public content, the company can access your camera to collect data on its usage, unencrypted messages sent and received, your interactions with ads and website content, the length of time you spend on the apps, and your device details — down to your battery level and signal strength.
They lost me at accessing my camera. “Meta also reportedly confirmed to investigators that it used the taxpayers' private data to serve targeted third-party ads to its Facebook and Instagram users and train its artificial intelligence algorithms,” reported the service, “ImproveTheNews.org.”
This is your reminder that Mark Zuckerberg is a malevolent actor. He and his spouse gave the Center for Tech and Civic Life, run by Democratic operatives, $400 million to privately fund official election offices in Democratic-leaning counties and jurisdictions to influence the 2020 election—nothing like putting your thumb on the scale. Fortunately, 24 states have or may soon ban such private infiltrations in our official elections.
No social network has it figured out yet, including Twitter, which has increasingly become a haven for porn and scam artists who try to follow you, hoping you will follow them back or click on their pervy links, so they can build a relationship with you and scam you of your money. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and others have warned you about that, and a California prosecutor is devoting her career to helping victims recover their lost money. Facebook isn’t exempt, either.
Maybe just staying off social media is the best solution. You know, hang with people in person you know and trust. Like we used to.