BBC gives up on Threads, sticks with Mastodon

https://darnell.day/bbc-gives-up-on-threads-by-instagram-sticks-with-mastodon

by cmrdporcupine • 3 years ago

484 276 3 years ago

samcat116• 3 years ago

In theory this won’t matter in a couple months when Threads gets ActivityPub support. Makes sense from a branding perspective

greesil3• 3 years ago

Embrace, extend, enshitten

TaylorAlexander• 3 years ago

I guess I don't know the ins and outs of this but I imagine if there is any issue, mastodon server administrators will ban the threads servers from federating to their server, and then users can live happily in ignorance of whatever Threads is doing, unless they elect to join or migrate to a server which does federate it.

zmmmmm• 3 years ago

if the alternative is moving straight to enshitten ..... i guess i'll take it? Seems to be basically how technology progresses these days. We just have to keep forking from the point before enshitten to build the next thing each time.

spookie6• 3 years ago

Eh, don't worry, there are plenty of instances that won't federate with Threads or other select instances. You have the choice to remain among the people you want.

And before someone mentions "that defeats its purpose", it does not. The purpose is for the user to act on its own agency and be wherever it feels right. Federation also enables that.

sp332• 3 years ago

Is there an actual timeline for that?

monetus3• 3 years ago

The developers are taking it seriously but there are no dates as far as I know.

nocoiner3• 3 years ago

I get an involuntary shudder of PTSD at seeing “Threads” and “BBC” in the same sentence.

dmbche• 3 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(1984_film)

Because of this?

firecall3• 3 years ago

Because of that!

O_nlogn• 3 years ago

As someone born after the Cold War, that film opened my eyes to the fear of nuclear winter in a way I didn't grasp learning history. Fantastic piece of cinema, highly recommended.

firecall3• 3 years ago

I'm there with you man.

Every time this comes up I point out that Cold War, and specifically Threads related PTSD, is a very real thing for UK Gen X!

seoulmetro5• 3 years ago

Equating watching a scary drama in 1984 with something as severe as PTSD and saying it's a very real thing for an entire generation is over the top. Baby boomers, sure they dealt with the cold war pretty realistically.

Lio• 3 years ago

For me it was When the Wind Blows[1].

A cutesy animated cartoon film about an old couple dieting the affects of nuclear fallout ...things were different in the 80s.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(1986_film...

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lEhcCvuLys

thom• 3 years ago

Yeah, one of the houses in it is just round the corner from us in Sheffield.

marban• 3 years ago

Last time I checked Threads was still not available in Europe so that'd be another curtailment.

threeseed7• 3 years ago

EU has already read the riot act to X on disinformation.

So we could see Threads approved at the same time X is banned.

troupo3• 3 years ago

No one banned Threads in the EU.

The way Threads is implemented and is working is illegal in the EU, so Meta decided not to launch it in the EU until they figure out how to circumvent the laws.

prmoustache• 3 years ago

Isn't threads what appeared as channels notifications in whatsapp anyway? I haven't tested subscribing to any account but I totally have that.

pmarreck3• 3 years ago

I can't stand that Instagram doesn't let you copy and paste (or save) content out of it, and I also can't stand when Threads also doesn't let you do the same thing. In the Threads app, you literally can't just select the text of a thread to paste elsewhere. To hell with that.

donatj• 3 years ago

I don't know what you're using, but modern Android will let you copy text and images out of basically anything from the "Select" button on the bottom of the app switcher

lazycouchpotato• 3 years ago

If you don't happen to have that on your Android phone, Copy [1] works well.

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.weberdo.ap...

pmarreck3• 3 years ago

iOS. I guess that explains it. Apple apparently lets app devs cancel text selection

threeseed7• 3 years ago

On iOS at least you can copy text from Threads. Just long press and select Copy.

pmarreck3• 3 years ago

Tried that, couldn't get it to work, weird

theonlybutlet3• 3 years ago

And the lack of direct url access or video control, drives me up the wall.

nirui• 3 years ago

What makes this news more interesting is the fact that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has abandoned its Threads account but is still maintaining its self-hosted Mastodon accounts online.

The title made it sound like BBC have picked a side, but the reality could be that they still got a few more months left in their experiment with Mastodon. Maybe it's still too early to tell anything concrete at this time.

hgrtegwerh• 3 years ago

threads supposedly intends to eventually federate with activitypub, so it's entirely possible the bbc is just betting on the one with the more active users, assuming eventually threads will pull in their feeds anyway.

dmix3• 3 years ago

I highly doubt BBC's social media managers are making long term bets on smaller social media networks eventually investing in activitypub. IRL they probably got little engagement vs the time they were investing so decided to just keep at least one Twitter style feed around so they don't completely abandon the concept of "microblogging"... as the vast, vast bulk of the journalism industry continues to use Twitter and that idea isn't dying any time soon. Having a backup comms platform is deemed valuable enough even if it doesn't drive high business value.

Edit: others have pointed out they still use X so I guess the whole point is moot

robga2• 3 years ago

Definitely. BBC News Labs has a drawer full of “Completed” projects as seen at https://bbcnewslabs.co.uk/projects/

M2Ys4U2• 3 years ago

News Labs isn't running the Mastodon trial, it's a different team in BBC R&D with a different remit

mellosouls3• 3 years ago

This seems also intended to be read as the BBC deprecating its presence on X, which alternative-universe situation is implied by the wording of the title and anti-X stance of the writer generally; obviously that's not the case, however much it might be wished here.

mvdtnz2• 3 years ago

X is not mentioned in the title and the very first sentence of the article says that the BBC accounts are still on X/Twitter. What gives you the impression that the intention was for this to be read as the contrary?

mellosouls3• 3 years ago

Because "X is not mentioned in the title" and the "anti-X stance of the writer generally".

rlt2• 3 years ago

I absolutely read the title as the BBC choosing a single platform. If not why wouldn’t it say “BBC gives up on Threads, sticks with Mastodon and X”?

scythe• 3 years ago

I'm not terribly familiar with these ecosystems, but for a news broadcaster it seems like a massive advantage that Mastodon is highly accessible to a non-logged-in user.

andsoitis• 3 years ago

The BBC is very much active on X, such as https://twitter.com/BBCWorld

rvz• 3 years ago

The BBC is also actively using more of their accounts on X with the last time they posted is less than an hour ago on https://twitter.com/BBCSport, https://twitter.com/BBCWorld and https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking.

On threads their last post on BBC Sports was 12 hours ago: https://www.threads.net/@bbcsport

So in fact, they are more active on Twitter / X than on the rest of the social networks.

But surely that somehow means 'X is dying' /s

iudqnolq• 3 years ago

Can you see many replies by the BBC? Genuine question, I just get a Twitter frontend error when I open the replies tab. (In Musk's defense, I got this sort of error frequently pre-acquisition).

If it's mostly top-level posts that could just be the same script pumping out content on all their platforms.

AshamedCaptain• 3 years ago

Why is this being downvoted? TFA is literally lying. Since the article has been posted, they have posted more to Twitter than to either of Threads or Mastodon. This is like the fluffers who set a mastodon URL in their Twitter profile to threaten Twitter but have never even considered actually posting to Mastodon.

Soon: BBC gives up on Mastodon, sticks with BlueSky. And my remark will still be as valid: they will have posted more on Twitter than on Threads, Mastodon, or BlueSky. It's just ridiculous games at this point.

If you wanted any more proof of the network effect and how much you can ruin an Internet service* and still keep all of its users captive, look no further.

(*Twitter literally shows the replies out of order for me right now. It is a technical disaster and yet my government still uses it almost exclusively.)

perfectstorm• 3 years ago

I lost interest in Threads once their product guy said news is not a priority for them. One of the main reasons I use Twitter to catch up on world events from trustworthy sources.

Also earthquakes. Living in the California, I'm actually very impressed with Twitter's trending searches. I can always find few people tweeting about earthquake within 10seconds of an earthquake.

threeseed7• 3 years ago

If you listen to Zuckerberg's interview with Alex Heath it's clear what they meant.

They are interested in breaking news, sports etc. They are just trying to avoid the platform turning into the polarising mess that Twitter is right now. And so they've been trying to position the app as more holistic than just politics and news.

Hashtags and trending searches are next on their roadmap. And I suspect that there is some technical work on their part to upgrade the underlying Instagram platform to support more real-time updates to the feed. Once that happens news will inevitably become a bigger part of Threads.

DoesntMatter22• 3 years ago

Threads is dead at this point realistically

pfist• 3 years ago

I like the UI design of Threads and I’m trying to enjoy the app, but it keeps flooding my feed with desperate, attention-seeking women in suggestive clothing and positions. I never have this problem on X.

andreygrehov• 3 years ago

They are just trying to avoid the platform turning into the polarising mess that Twitter is right now.

What if that is the actual state of the country and Twitter is just reflecting it?

sph6• 3 years ago

They want to avoid recreating the polarising mess that is Twitter... by copying Twitter wholesale?

basisword• 3 years ago

> They are interested in breaking news, sports etc. They are just trying to avoid the platform turning into the polarising mess that Twitter is right now.

They're right to do this too. I enjoyed Threads drama free for a few days. The first time I saw a post from a journalist - it was drama. Complaining about how important news is and how it's morally wrong of Meta to not be prioritising it. So obviously self-serving too.

is_true2• 3 years ago

I don't think people at Meta think that "polarizing" is bad, is an easy way to drive engagement

grishka2• 3 years ago

news is not a priority for them

Huh? That's a strange requirement. Somehow every social media platform eventually devolves into having news, meme pages and other faceless inhuman entities you seemingly can't escape.

I, for one, desperately want the opposite — a platform where organizations of any kind are not welcome. Only people and their personal accounts. The fediverse is kinda like that. Yes, BBC does have their own Mastodon server, but they don't have many followers and there are no algorithms to force-feed you out-of-network content.

hackernewds• 3 years ago

News is not as monetizable as something short-form such as Reels

simongray3• 3 years ago

Mastodon is quite different. It really filters a lot of noise away (e.g. Xwitter always has ~20 pointless meme gif comments below every viral post) and it self-selects what I would consider interesting people. The algorithm-centred platforms tend to congregate around celebrities/influencers over time, while Mastodon is much more egalitarian and people-focused.

rchaud4• 3 years ago

a platform where organizations of any kind are not welcome. Only people and their personal accounts

So, politicians and political meme accounts?

How would you even know if a personal account wasn't being managed by an organization?

You can't block politics on these sites in any case. People love drama, it adds 'stickiness' to the app.

ulfw• 3 years ago

My Threads has turned into an instagram copy. Half the posts are pictures, which, is neat. But I prefer the instagram interface.

And as usual Meta doesn't give a f about iPads, so threads (like instagram) looks like crap running on it.

dghughes• 3 years ago

Hypocritical of Zuck now show news after having a major snit fit when here in Canada he was asked to support news organizations he chose not to and just block news.

SpecialistK• 3 years ago

he was asked to support news organizations

I think that's a pretty disingenuous way of putting it. Meta and Google were told that by law they would need to pay money to /link/ to news content. Everyone else pays Meta and Google to run ads or does SEO, and now Meta has to pay the people they're linking to (but only if its news). It's completely back-asswords and I support their protest.

"Hey McDonalds, when this one group orders a cheeseburger you have to give them money instead of them paying you"

"Okay, we won't serve those people cheeseburgers."

Same situation, just as ridiculous.

faizmokh• 3 years ago

I feel like the problem with Threads is the direct integrations with Instagram.

There's so many self-indulgent posts from IG influencers earlier on it becomes terrible experience to doom scroll. By the time they released a separate "Following" tab, people have lost their interest in using it.

arpowers• 3 years ago

X dying? It seems like it gets better every day

timeon• 3 years ago

Better maybe for logged-in users. Without account it is hit or miss. In my case, I do not have account and it still shows just error page.

usr1106• 3 years ago

I have an account, but have not been logged in for a long time. I don't fear missing a lot.

Or maybe I don't have an account anymore. Didn't Musk announce that inactive accounts will be deleted?

spartanatreyu• 3 years ago

Unfortunately, BBC doesn't seem to have world news on their own mastodon instance.

Without that, I don't think they're going to get worthwhile numbers from mastodon...

robga2• 3 years ago

I imagine it is only a matter of time before they do have a world news account. Meanwhile, there are plenty of mirror accounts (rss posters) of their headlines on Mastodon.

And summarisers like https://mastodon.bot/@bbcnews

shapefrog2• 3 years ago

Why haven't they at least taken the twitter feeds and cross posted? Or spit the beeb rss feed out via mastodon?

The "experiment" seems to be little more than spinning up a server.

ThinkBeat• 3 years ago

I do fully agree that there are philosophical and ethical problems with TwitterX, and I would like to see it fail however the rumors of the demise of Twitter / X are exaggerated.

It is a massive and difficult job to pull regular users away from what they are comfortable with X / Twitter to a completely new platform without any real end user benefit. In fact, it lacks a lot of features users may like on TwitterX

exodust• 3 years ago

"I do fully agree that there are philosophical and ethical problems with TwitterX, and I would like to see it fail..."

Agree with who? The article mentions nothing of the sort. It seems you have your own philosophical and ethical problems. Agreeing with ghosts, and wishing failure on others.

CM306• 3 years ago

I think Twitter/X charging money might be what kills it off. If you need to pay to post/view anything, then about 95% of the population will say "sod this, I'm out of here".

I'll be very surprised if Musk actually does go through with that promise/idea (even someone like this knows how network effects work, right?), but if he does, I'd say that would be the tipping point.

lolc2• 3 years ago

As somebody with only second-hand exposure to Twitter, it feels like they're actively driving it to irrelevance. All I hear for a year now is that they turn off interfaces that enabled people to integrate with them.

Just last week a customer called because the Twitter embed on their site didn't work anymore. When we said we'd investigate, they said not to bother and just replace it with a link.

vardump2• 3 years ago

I think Twitter/X charging money might be what kills it off.

I don't think this is true at all. Where did you get this idea they'd charge money for reading and posting?

foderking• 3 years ago

"i think xyz would be what finally kills twitter" "this time bro, just trust me. it wouldn't go like the 1000 other times i predicted twitter would get killed"

nicky0• 3 years ago

Now I'm curious to know know what you think the philiosphical and ethical problems with X are.

phatfish• 3 years ago

Probably that owner is a Billionaire online bully with a large following of acolytes ready to brigade anyone he feels like.

And that Twitter/X has now been login-walled so anyone that wants more than an embedded Tweet link has to make an account. Which means organisations like the BBC which use it are now implicitly supporting Musk.

AdamN• 3 years ago

Supporting Musk just to view tweets (or whatever they are called) is a big moral compromise imho.

I get that if you are a news or social media source you need the views so it's work with him or lose money but that's not the case for many other people.

I left months ago and think it was the right decision for many reasons.

BlueTemplar• 3 years ago

Being a platform.

Of course that's not new : Twitter's APIpocalypse that spawned Mastodon happened in 2013...

senectus1• 3 years ago

I still feel that the barrier to entry for mastodon is way too high. it needs to be made simpler.

jkaljundi• 3 years ago

Since Threads is still available only in selected countries - most importantly blocking Europe - it can't be taken seriously.

peanuty1• 3 years ago

It's not even popular in the US.

raverbashing2• 3 years ago

Zuck tried to create the Disneyland of short updates

But guess what, nobody cares about the bland and corporatized stuff for too long

fragmede3• 3 years ago

One problem is the lack of desktop client. Instagram gets away with not really having a website, but for Threads, that's paramount.

CM306• 3 years ago

They do actually have a desktop client/website now.

notatoad• 3 years ago

threads has had a webapp with pretty much feature parity to the mobile app for about a month now.

instagram has also had a webapp with pretty much feature parity to the mobile app for many years, so saying they don't really have a website is pretty weird.

fragmede3• 3 years ago

Oh hey I guess they do. I was mislead by a search for threads only bringing up the app, and threads.com not being it. it's http://threads.net, and lets me write posts. Man, Facebook really needs to up their SEO game.

helsinkiandrew• 3 years ago

Instagram's website is fairly good and just about fully featured isn't it?

oliv5900• 3 years ago

If watching a reel in a 3" box on a 27" monitor is fully featured, then ya sure.

Theodores• 3 years ago

Not at all. It might as well be written in 1999 with tables. They could make the web version use big monitors to show beautiful photos in a responsive way, but they cannot be bothered.

They know who their customers are and their customers do not have time for computers.

insin• 3 years ago

They do have a web version now, but if you try to log in you get hit with an 'install the app to continue" wall.

Nice try, Zuck.

fragmede3• 3 years ago

Turns out they updated it so now there is one.

CM306• 3 years ago

Given that Threads seems to suppress posts linking to other websites, and the audience there isn't particularly interested in news, I'm not surprised the BBC has given up on it. The fact the algorithm recommends you everything but what you're interested in and engagement is questionable even for larger accounts is just the icing on the cake.

But I'm honestly not sure any of these alternative platforms is going to replace Twitter for news anytime soon. BlueSky feels a lot like Threads activity wise; decent to mediocre engagement for popular accounts and barely any for regular folks/new users, and Mastodon has high engagement, but a far more technical, niche audience.

And neither really care much more about news than Threads does. Probably because of all the toxicity that news posts tend to bring over on Twitter/X, and these services acting as an escape from that...

monetus3• 3 years ago

  Given that Threads seems to suppress posts linking to other websites,

Source? I know X was introducing delays on links to threads, blue sky, and mastodon; is that what you meant?

NewJazz• 3 years ago

I think the commenter was claiming that Threads does not show posts with links in people's feeds as often as it shows other posts.

dusted2• 3 years ago

(ironically, most of them are still using X, formally known as Twitter).

Dunno, feels like the only people leaving X was the people who didn't use X anyway..

I've been using it with the same frequency as before Musik took over, and to be honest, I've not noticed anything different in the stuff I see/find/interact.

__alexs• 3 years ago

I followed 3000 people and read and posted most days. Haven't even opened the app since the logo changed.

Most of the people I interacted with are now on Mastodon. I guess we just have different circles.

dusted2• 3 years ago

I was banned on the mastodon instance I was on for saying that people should have the same rights regardless on the color of their skin, so I decided that probably the people who leave for Mastodon are not the ones I should spend any time with anyhow.

kmlx• 3 years ago

i completely stopped using it since july. the quality of the experience has been atrocious for me.

nightfly• 3 years ago

I now have stuff shoved at me on the home screen that I don't know who they are, don't want to see their stuff, or both. I'm only ever on Twitter to see stuff from a small handful of people so it's very noticeable.

preisschild• 3 years ago

I've not noticed anything different in the stuff I see/find/interact.

I definitely did. Russian disinformation from random accounts, such as "Catturd", show up on my home page.

rsynnott2• 3 years ago

I was a pretty heavy Twitter user since 2007 (back when it had visible sequential numeric IDs, mine was six figures) and gave up a couple of months after the coming of Naughty Old Mr Car. For me his war on journalists in late 2022 was the last straw (I did return once for a silly joke in December when uttering the dread word 'Mastodon' was briefly banned), but even if that hadn't bothered me, the end of third party clients a month or so afterwards and the promotion of replies from gormless bluetick idiots above all else in the same timeframe would've killed it for me.

That said, I'm happy enough with Mastodon now; it feels a lot more like old (early-10s) Twitter.

I'm keeping the account, for now, on the basis that he might at some point get bored and go back to his imaginary car tunnels, and sell the remains of Twitter to someone sensible (presumably Automattic, which collects mortally wounded social networks).

jwmoz• 3 years ago

I immediately stopped using it after they spammed random accounts to the timeline, even after following steps to stop it. Not a good look.

vr46• 3 years ago

I wish more social media companies would give up on the EU, it's so peaceful here. I've boxed myself into will-follow-back corner on Twitter so every time I open it I feel like one of the chimps at the beginning of 28 Days Later with the rage virus.

goes off to have a nice cup of tea and waits for all this to blow over

a1o• 3 years ago

Anyone here in BlueSky? Still trying to figure that one out.

elektor• 3 years ago

BlueSky

I've been on it since June and quite like it. It's really picked up in the last month and has hit mainstream with the AcademicTwitter crowd.

pxoe2• 3 years ago

relatively active on mastodon

ah yes, with a whopping 2 to 4 posts for the last week (about a dozen or two for a whole month), and a grand total of 50-100 posts. while some other accounts on that server haven't posted anything since august. "it's not even nearly as abandoned as the other thing". sure. meanwhile, twitter gets a bunch of posts daily, and for radio 5, even their facebook page is more active (while 4's page is kinda abandoned since last year). "well what does this tell us about the state of platforms?" honestly, literally nothing. it just shows some strange gaps in bbc's social efforts and lack of automated posting in some places (even where they do seemingly have that figured out, like fb).

spinningslate• 3 years ago

Fair. Without doubt, there's some bias/aspiration in OP's post. There is, though, a kernel of interest in the confluence of Mastodon/ActivityPub and mainstream media outlets. The latter have become subservient to the social media platforms and it has, at best, been an uneasy alliance for them. Twitter/X has probably been the most successful; Meta's disagreement in Canada [0] is towards the other end.

Mastodon/ActivityPub presents a chink of opportunity for mainstream media. Rather than being subservient to 3rd party platforms, they can run their own - e.g. social.bbc. Users can sign up and follow who they like, see what they like, and not be subjected to the commercial drivers of a 3rd party platform and its selection algorithms.

Of course, that's a huge risk for extant platforms. Meta's intention to federate Threads is pretty clearly an effort to counter that potential threat.

It would also need a significant level of investment, commitment and coordination among the broadcasters. So it's definitely in the "possible" rather than "probable" bucket.

Which brings us back to the OP. It can justly be seen as hope over evidence, at least at the moment. But there is at least an opportunity underpinning it.

[0] https://gizmodo.com/canada-news-facebook-meta-instagram-1850...

Zak• 3 years ago

Meta's intention to federate Threads is pretty clearly an effort to counter that potential threat.

I'm starting to get the impression they aren't very serious about that. I expected if they were going to do it, they would have done it by now.

I don't expect the same of other products that have announced intent to federate such as Flickr and Tumblr, as they're much older codebases and the companies don't have Meta's resources.

pxoe2• 3 years ago

It's just some people seeking to pit mastodon and threads against each other, no matter what with no limit to dishonesty when it's "against a big bad corporation". Sure, they can go ahead, it just might look ridiculous. The 'my secret club!'-ness is showing. There's some faint thread of 'disdain of masses' with mastodon, with stuff like backlash against potential influx of hundreds of millions of people, which they seemingly do not want to happen. It's kind of a strange paradoxical angle on information availability. Which also makes it only weirder for stuff like this that pretends to care about whether there's a news outlet out there serving information to public, when that public getting on is treated like a problem.

There is some kind of a fork for twitter-like platforms with a question of 'do they want for it to actually become a platform that could/would serve hundreds of millions of users'. It seems like it leans more towards 'no' than otherwise. Not even technologically, but just 'based on vibes'.

nmeofthestate• 3 years ago

And he said it's "ironic" that the BBC is still on Twitter - that comment confused me.

glimshe2• 3 years ago

You will have a really hard time finding a person outside tech circles who knows of, much less actively uses, Threads or Mastodon.

krapp• 3 years ago

I've see authors, actors, scientists, artists, musicians, journalists and people of all stripes (and not all from "tech circles") on Mastodon.

Ironically, most complaining I've seen about the technical hurdles of joining Mastodon have come from techies on HN. Meanwhile Stephen King, a nearly 80 year old author who probably still uses a rotary phone and manual typewriter, managed to figure it out.

Or more likely find someone to figure it out for him but still.

glimshe2• 3 years ago

Some content producers/personalities are certainly using these services, but the content consumers aren't common outside the tech circles.

theonlybutlet3• 3 years ago

Think I've come across two links to mastodon in my life (probably here on HN), and have never encountered threads (I do live in Europe).

alfanick• 3 years ago

Agreed. I've never been on Mastodon, because there is no reason for me to bother (I did hear about it). Threads? I DID hear about it and I'm actively refusing, because if I need Threads account, it's bound to my Instagram account and if I don't like it and resign my IG is gone. Meh, no need for that.

But same applies with Discord for me. Why would I be there? Why companies expect me to contact them via Discord? Yo, gimme wiki, or answer email. I don't need some chat-thingy/Slack/Discord.

Edit: Why don't we have email, nntp and IRC anymore? Just build stuff on it, don't reinvent.

throwaw1yyy2• 3 years ago

X is still good and very usable. I’m a heavy user, and I would love to be critical but the service HAS improved despite all the criticisms.

It’s getting better - I see improvements weekly to things. All the huff and fuss is from people I’m constantly wondering if they were even users prior to the Elon takeover. There was a large vocal contingent that hated twitter even prior to Elon on here, who again complained and often would note they didn’t have accounts but the service was still terrible.

The BBC and the rest should realize the service is still worthy, and Elon will allow people he disagrees with on the platform.

la_oveja• 3 years ago

im an user since 2010 its def been worse. translation service works half of the time since the takeover, i see a shitton of useless tick marked content in my feed, the "Following" tab goes worse, the new ads on the responses are awful, and random position-jumping feed updates still happen. service has not gone better in any way

throwaw1yyy2• 3 years ago

It’s loads wayyy faster. I cannot understand how you haven’t experienced that. What about the fact the service hasn’t gone down practically once? Don’t you remember twitter going down for 9-10 hour stretches every 2-3 months before under new ownership? what about begging for new features and never getting anything except a new font? Elon’s twitter ships constantly (not all improvements per say) but aren’t you happy at least their shipping something?

I have been on since 2010 - you need to constantly (and always had too be) pruning your followings to remove the duds. The ‘following’ tab is only as good as your personal filter. That counts for before or after Elon

tomalpha• 3 years ago

Elon will allow people he disagrees with on the platform

I’m not comfortable relying on a single “benevolent” dictator decided what is and isn’t allowed on the platform.

Particularly because the benevolence or lack thereof is, at best, hotly debated in this context.

diamondfist25• 3 years ago

I almost don’t open Instagram anymore these days

All my friends who are on it are girls who are hopelessly hooked to it and posts thirst trap pix.

I now am piping all the dms to my own matrix server, and found ways to pull data from it via private api proxies, I find myself never needing to step into Marks predatory algos

I’m very happy this setup

_ph_• 3 years ago

I think that recent history clearly shows, that any larger organization and especially any public organization should at minimum also have a Mastodon representation. One can argue a lot on how a certain social network is superior to Mastodon. And often enough, that is indeed true. But all social networks that are run by a single entity are at the mercy of that entity. They might completely change their policies at a whim.

With Mastodon though, you can run your own instance. No one can take that from you and you can guarantee that your content is reachable for anyone interested. That should be reason enough to support it, even if you also have a presence on other networks.

In a sense, this reminds me of the old competition between the web and more centralized services like bulletin boards. The web is not as integrated, but its winning power was, that everyone can set up a web page, you are not dependent on any organization to do so, which could prevent you doing it.

stallmanwasrigh• 3 years ago

Yet another app to install is not particularly enticing.

Threads should embrace web first.. twitter/mastodon treat web as first class.

jscipione• 3 years ago

I’ve given up on the BBC: they blackwash history and pass on Whites for promotions. The BBC is clearly an anti-white hate institution posing as a broadcaster.

0x38B• 3 years ago

The title doesn’t reflect reality; “gives up on” rings of finality, but more accurate would be “hasn’t posted in a long time”. For the former I would expect a statement from BBC to support such a policy change.

But the title as-is has certainly gotten people to click on it.

BBC gives up on Threads, sticks with Mastodon

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