How Meta is taking on Twitter with new app Threads

and for more on this, Dan Ackerman, editor-in-chief of internet technology blog Gizmodo, joins me now, so Dan another day, another social network apparently, what are you trying to do

meta

here? I mean, who is this for and do you think it will ultimately be successful? Yeah, I think since the beginning of the Elon Musk era a lot of people have seen the opportunity to come into the space that Twitter had and offer an alternative and they haven't really figured out if it's Mastodon of Blue Sky, they just are. Spreading is too complicated if you have a mega brand like Instagram, which is actually Facebook, which is really

meta

behind it, then at least they have a chance and a lot of people see this as the first real competitor that could drive people away because it's the right. time because Twitter is really floundering right now, well you mentioned that

threads

are just one of the many Twitter alternatives out there right now, so how does it compare not only to Twitter but other similar apps you mentioned, Blue Sky, by the former Twitter boss?

Jack Dorsey I know I understand that you have a very long waiting list of people who are eager to get on Blue Sky, so how do these

threads

compare? Yes, you know that a waitlist helps you initially in terms of generating some buzz, but if the waitlist is too long, people will lose interest and walk away, and other things like Mastodon were too complicated to use and didn't. They replicated all the features people liked about Twitter. We don't know how the thread will work yet. it's launching tomorrow, but certainly people already have an emotional connection to Instagram and if they can carry some of that over to this new app, including their followers, including a lot of the features, at least I think it has a fighting chance if only because uh , Twitter has made as many unforced errors lately as it has in the last week, it's true, so this comes at a really challenging and difficult time for Twitter.

I know they have a new new CEO. What does the future of Twitter look like to you? Well, the problem is that people have been loyal users of Twitter for a long time. I think they feel kicked out of the app. They are losing access to features and functions. People who are verified have lost that verification badge. It's been replaced by a sort of pay-to-play system, content moderation just completely disappeared, so people feel like it's a toxic environment that's not as helpful or fun to be in or as informative. Can the threads be replaced that you know we don't know yet, but?

I think Instagram slash facebook slash meta at least has the backend to be able to take care of moderation and make people feel more comfortable, so same question for meta, I mean, Facebook literally rebranded itself as meta for focus on the metaverse seen. There is little tangible progress, even shareholders have become very frustrated with the company now that it is working on this Twitter alternative, so what is happening in the meta? Yeah, I mean, maybe they should have renamed themselves after an AI game instead of a metaverse game because that ended up being you. Be much more popular.

I don't think the idea of ​​the metaverse is dead yet, maybe we have to change the name, but these shared experiences online through headphones, you know, Apple is in that game now, so in some ways it's revitalized, but it's It is interesting to me that in the case of the threads in particular, they do not use the name Facebook or The Meta, but the name Instagram, which I think has more public prestige. People have warmer feelings towards him. Warm and fuzzy feelings towards threads. we'll see yet to see Dan Ackerman thank you hello everyone George Stephanopoulos here thank you for visiting the ABC News channel on YouTube for more videos, highlights and live event coverage click right here to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app to receive breaking news alerts, thanks for watching.