Complaints and frustration have swirled with impunity around Twitter, a social network many feel is ripe for disruption. People yearn for a decentralized alternative that empowers its users through data privacy, high-quality conversations, and greater ownership over content. Numerous attempts have been made to create such a rival, albeit without much success. That was until Threads, brought to life by Meta, made a bold entry into the social media scene, amassing 100 million users in less than a week, a feat competitors can only dream of.
Threads’ rapid growth, however, does not simply hinge on the fact it emerged from Meta’s ecosystem, nor is its rise a surefire guarantee of its long-term dominance. Noteworthy is the case of Clubhouse, whose initial explosion of users eventually simmered to a mere whimper as its relevance ebbed away.
The catalyst for Threads’ success lies in its seamless integration with Instagram. Why? Simply put, the people are already there. Despite aspirations of migrating to smaller, more personalized platforms, users are often ensnared by the allure of virality inherent to platforms boasting vast numbers of monthly active users, like Instagram.
Compounding this is Threads’ facile onboarding process for existing Instagram users. Its user-friendly design needs no establishment of new identities, while one’s existing Instagram following is effortlessly transferred to Threads. Social media start-ups bear witness – Threads’s rampant success offers imperative lessons, not only for its competitors but also for the crypto world vying for mainstream adoption. Like social media, money only really functions if it’s widely utilised.
A takeaway here is that sometimes playing alongside industry giants helps, at least initially. Providing a gateway to crypto via known brands with a established customer base makes sense in this era of crypto adoption. Hence the partnership between Polygon and Instagram, for instance.
Furthermore, a user-friendly onboarding process is paramount. While creating a product set to revolutionize society may be a noble goal, if a user’s journey is complex or confusing, prospects of mainstream acceptance are low. This calls for more accessible centralized crypto exchanges, despite their potential for less security.
Lastly, though users express concerns about data privacy and a centralized digital sphere susceptible to an individual’s whims, this does not seem to hinder their eagerness to use these platforms. Indeed, data privacy is paramount, and decentralization is attractive. However, without a wide network or hassle-free use, these lofty ideals alone will hardly propel a product into the mainstream. If nothing else, Threads’ dramatic rise encapsulates these insights exceptionally well.
Source: Coindesk
