I’m Already Bored Using Threads. Is It Just Social Media Overload?

Maybe it is time to do something totally new.

Threads was launched not long ago and I immediately jumped in and posted. The number of my followers kept increasing on a regular basis. A few experts also started posting insightful articles. I later discovered that they were copied and pasted from Twitter or Instagram.

When the news first broke about Threads and how easy it is to register — since the app just uses your Instagram login — I thought it would become a big hit. In most cases, I was correct. Over 100 million people have downloaded the microblogging application, which has exploded in use.

As is often the case, initial enthusiasm fades within a few days. One recent report suggests the daily active user count (meaning, people who are actually using the app and don’t just have an account) dropped in half over one week. On July 7, the hype peaked and then fell flat by July 14th. It has about 23 millions active users, down from 49 million just a week ago.

I tracked the exact same course of interest and roughly over the same time period. At first I posted a few posts, and then experimented with short messages and links. I began following people to scan their feeds. My Twitter activity was paused for a while as I focused my attention on the newest app, if an app developed by a company worth $754 billion can be called a newbie. kid.

An early summary of the app hit the nail square on the head: Threads doesn’t do anything new. The app looks like Twitter. I don’t think that’s why I’m already bored using the app, though.

Here’s the reason. I’m a little bored with the entire social media space. Post and click. Like and follow. Repeat this a thousand times. I’ve mentioned before I’m not looking forward to building up my following yet again on a new app. It’s all starting to remind me way too much of the audio-chat app called Clubhouse, which also forced everyone to build up a following. The strange feeling I had when trying to promote my own audio chat and then realizing that five other people were joining was still fresh in my mind. What is the solution? As always, slowly build up your following. This is why I skipped it.

One way to describe social media is that we’re all helping build a vast advertising engine — one follower at a time. We’re doing all of the work and the companies that make these apps reap the benefits. We’re enamored with the idea of having a lot of followers, seeing likes on our posts, and hoping to land in the spotlight and go viral. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg keeps counting his money and softly chuckling to himself about how we’re stupid enough to play along.

Were we dumb? We’re not stupid. We’re Humans are able to understand and communicate with each other. Social media apps know that we’re all trying to seek attention and we’re all information seekers. Both we, as consumers and informers, want to know more. The problem is that this digital treadmill keeps running forever, and there’s never an end in sight. That’s really the whole point of social media, to convince us there’s a goal and at the same time never allowing us to reach the goal. It’s perfectly alluring. Threads, the app for iOS and Android devices is just another never-ending scam.

Unfortunately, I think it’s starting to unravel.

I’m going to keep using the app and see how it all unfolds. Data suggests that many users have tried out the app and then left. The interface looks clean and neat, but I’ve yet to witness a full-blown flame war.

I’m sticking around for a while. It would be nice to have a little more understanding of the reasons we continue to use social media applications, our hopes and dreams, as well as if someone could figure out how to finally make them worth using. The treadmill will continue to be used until that time.