Imagine standing at the entrance of a vast and claustrophobic labyrinth, thread in hand, just like the legendary Theseus before facing the mighty Minotaur. The only way out is to follow the thread, carefully weaving your way back to safety. Now, step away from the labyrinth and picture a still pool of water. A beautiful young man kneels beside it, captivated by his reflection, unable to look away. Theseus had Ariadne’s thread to guide him forward, but Narcissus had only himself, trapped by his gaze.
In the world of social media, we find ourselves caught between these two fates. Are we using the platforms as a tool to find meaningful and nurturing connections, or are we simply staring at our phones for hours at end, lost in the endless pursuit of validation? This question is growing increasingly important, as new apps seem to pop up daily, with millions of people pouring their precious time into them. It is safe to assume that most Gen Z students, especially in first-world countries, use some sort of social media platform. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or any other platform, the rising issue of legitimate news is becoming more relevant daily.
Launched as a response to Twitter/X’s shifting landscape, Threads promised seamless conversations and communication, with many saying it would be the replacement/improvement of X. But as 2025 rolls in, has it kept its promise? To answer that, let’s examine how Threads has evolved (or devolved) – and whether people (especially students) should use it.
A Worthy Successor or a Fading Alternative?
Instagram’s Threads is a text-based conversation app that launched on July 5, 2023. Although they have nothing in common, an app with the same name was launched back in 2019, which was said to be a “camera-first messaging app that helps you stay connected to your close friends”.
To quote the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri’s own words, he says “For those of you trying to think about what to post here on Threads versus Instagram, my take is it’s less about text versus photos and videos and more about what public conversations you want to have. Do you want to engage in more of a back-and-forth, Threads make sense. If not, great, probably Instagram…”.
It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that the new app was involved in controversy on its first day of launch. Twitter, via attorney Alex Spiro, accused Meta of stealing trade secrets following the launch of Meta’s Threads and said that Twitter is concerned that Meta has misappropriated its trade secrets and other intellectual property.
“With that knowledge, Meta deliberately assigned these employees to develop, in a matter of months, Meta’s copycat ‘Threads’ app with the specific intent that they use Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property in order to accelerate the development of Meta’s competing app, in violation of both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter” (excerpt from the letter sent from X’s legal counsel).
The letter claimed Meta over the past year has hired dozens of former Twitter employees – a group that happens to be fairly sizable after Elon Musk acquired Twitter and proceeded to lay off roughly 3,700 employees or about half the company’s workforce.
Threads blew its initial momentum by refusing to promote so-called political content, issues around blocked news links, and erroneously deleted profiles. Users are now looking at how to delete their Meta accounts altogether and are seeking alternatives, which is ironic as Threads was initially presented as an alternative to the propaganda den Twitter/X.
Although they initially said it wouldn’t launch ads until it hit 1 billion users (currently around 300 million), Meta has also announced its initial test of ads on Threads. Mark Zuckerberg pledging $65 billion in spending on AI projects this year could be the justification for them pulling the trigger on Threads ads.
Another surprising development Meta has gone through is that they are abandoning the use of independent fact-checkers for X-style community notes (what an original idea!). Initially introduced in 2016, Republicans have criticized the company for its fact-checking policy, calling it censorship of right-wing votes. Meta’s blog post said it would “undo the mission creep” of rules and policies.
The company has relaxed moderation of anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech, softened its misinformation filters, and junked its diversity initiatives. You can probably see how the site benefits and harms a certain subgroup of people, which is, quite frankly, moronic and unnecessary in today’s society.
But that isn’t to say that everything is negative in the world of Threads. Recently, the app has gained a dedicated tab for photos and videos, along with photo tagging. Understandably, many on the internet criticized the features, which are long overdue and similar to the media timeline on Twitter.
My thoughts and conclusion
Overall, has Threads gained a distinct identity from its predecessors such as X and Bluesky? It’s hard to say, as every recent development Meta has made seems to be ripping off features that have already existed in the aforementioned apps long ago. From what I’ve seen, Threads is a great place for businesses and cultural/artistic expressions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a good social media app/website. To circle back on the comparison between Ariadne and Narcissus, Threads leans into the latter, not even doing that great of a job captivating its audience.
I might be coming off as a negative Nancy for the majority, but the reality is that social media platforms like Threads and X are becoming increasingly propagandistic in nature. Actress Farrah Fawcett once said, “Everything has positive and negative consequences.”. Unfortunately in Threads’ case, it seems that the negatives outweigh the positives. There really is no need to be active on sites like these unless you absolutely need to, plenty of other alternative and reliable news sources exist to get information from. I’d advise people to seek reputable and factual sources before believing in the first news article or post they see.
Works Cited:
Hutchinson, A. Meta Announces Initial Test of Ads on Threads. 25 Jan. 2025, https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/meta-launches-test-threads-ads/738317/.
Torek, B. Meta’s New Policies: How They Endanger LGBTQ+ Communities and Our Tips for Staying Safe Online. 15 Jan. 2025, https://www.hrc.org/news/metas-new-policies-how-they-endanger-lgbtq-communities-and-our-tips-for-staying-safe-online.
Pahwa, N. How Mark Zuckerberg Undid Years of Work in a Single Week. 16 Jan. 2025, https://slate.com/technology/2025/01/mark-zuckerberg-meta-threads-destroyed-case-elon-musk-twitter.html.
McMahon, L. Political Content on All Instagram and Threads Users. 9 Jan. 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjyd0297go.
Grigonis, H. K. Threads Is about to Copy…Instagram? Meta’s Young Social Platform Is Getting Photo-Centric Features. 30 Jan. 2025, https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/tech/social-media/threads-is-about-to-copy-instagram-metas-young-social-platform-is-getting-photo-centric-features.
McMahon, L., et al. Meta to Replace ‘Biased’ Fact-Checkers with Moderation by Users. 7 Jan. 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly74mpy8klo.
