The Threads Creator Paradox

Anuj Ahooja asks, on Threads' first birthday, the "existential question... Why does Threads exist? ... an alternative to Elon Musk's X. But ... a platform can't exist to be "an alternative." It should be able to stand alone with its unique purpose and be built to incentivize users to follow that purpose... [unfortunately] the humans who have worked tirelessly to build those communities are not being incentivized or given the tools to do that work."

By humans, he means Creators. Whereas platforms like "TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have "celebrity" creators, with a mostly one-way relationship... Microblogging works a bit differently ... creators are analogous to community builders... celebrity creators ... [are] usually celebrities elsewhere" and just crosspost to Threads for wider distribution.

On Threads, some communities emerge and then spin off "into Discords and Instagram group chats that leak back and forth into the main Threads feed."

Anuj provides a few examples, some of whom I do follow on Threads - eg "Eleonor Rose, who flies city to city to attend meetups, open-sources her work, elevates users in the community who build interesting products, and set up a Discord server and multiple Instagram group chats."

"Threads is a reply and elevate economy", but too much of the work is being "done using brute force and tools outside the core platform", although in some cases Meta has provides some support - eg "added scoreboards to the search experience for NBA and MLB games... [and] a TweetDeck-like experience". But otherwise it's been tone-deaf, with "influencer programs that push Instagram creators ... to post on Threads".

The "Threads creator paradox" is basically Meta confusing their platforms, thinking that injecting stars from Instagram into Threads will work, which is like transplanting orchids from the jungles where they thrive in abundance into a desert and expecting them to multiply. The irony is that Meta has another platform where community building similar to that on Threads is doing well, inside Facebook Groups.

But rather than look to other platforms, they should invest in the community builders they have on Threads: "Give them the tools ... throw money at them to host events, and give them tips to grow and engage with their community."

What happens upon federation? "it will matter less who the native creators are on Threads... [But] culture will still matter".