{"id":128777,"date":"2023-07-10T07:28:12","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T11:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/?p=128777"},"modified":"2024-01-13T18:50:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T23:50:41","slug":"why-meta-released-threads-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/why-meta-released-threads-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Meta Released Threads Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2023\/07\/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-128810\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Logo_Threads.jpg?resize=50%2C50&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Logo_Threads.jpg?resize=75%2C75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Logo_Threads.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Logo_Threads.jpg?w=572&amp;ssl=1 572w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 50px) 100vw, 50px\" \/><\/a>Unless you sleeping under a rock, you may have heard that <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook \/ Meta \/ Instagram<\/a> (<a title=\"META\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tradingview.com\/symbols\/NASDAQ-META\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">META<\/a>) has released an alternative to Twitter, called <a title=\"Introducing Threads: A New Way to Share With Text\" href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2023\/07\/introducing-threads-new-app-text-sharing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Threads<\/a>. Other have found the app to be <strong>incomplete<\/strong>. Even Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri wrote there are \u201c<a title=\"What is Threads? All your questions about Meta\u2019s new Twitter rival, answered\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/threads-instagram-meta-twitter-2040ccb70657a36e26c6471e39ed1ac5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">tons of basics<\/a>\u201d missing.<\/p>\r\n<h3>What Threads is missing<\/h3>\r\n<p>Reviewers say the app is missing functions like:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-128812\" title=\"The Threads app is missing functions\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sadthreads-e1688927860905-117x150.png?resize=97%2C125&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Threads app is missing functions\" width=\"97\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sadthreads-e1688927860905.png?resize=117%2C150&amp;ssl=1 117w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sadthreads-e1688927860905.png?resize=58%2C75&amp;ssl=1 58w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sadthreads-e1688927860905.png?w=322&amp;ssl=1 322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 97px) 100vw, 97px\" \/>Chronological feeds,<\/li>\r\n<li>Direct messaging between users,<\/li>\r\n<li>The ability to edit a post,<\/li>\r\n<li>Following feeds,<\/li>\r\n<li>Hashtags,<\/li>\r\n<li>Search capabilities, and<\/li>\r\n<li>Web version.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>The <strong>app seems rushed<\/strong>. Why did Zuckerburg push an<strong> incomplete product<\/strong> out the door now?<\/p>\r\n<h3>ChatGPT<\/h3>\r\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-128813\" title=\"catch up to industry leaders\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202-150x96.jpg?resize=125%2C80&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"catch up to industry leaders\" width=\"125\" height=\"80\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202.jpg?resize=150%2C96&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202.jpg?resize=75%2C48&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202.jpg?resize=768%2C493&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/3fc3807f-b7e3-4d0b-be90-4dbb8cc3ee70-e1688928046202.jpg?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/>The first reason could be the meteoric rise of generative artificial intelligence which Meta has no answer for. Threads represents a huge new opportunity for Meta to <strong>gather training data for its own AI<\/strong> technology. This new data could help it catch up to industry leaders.\u00a0<a title=\"Microsoft\" href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft<\/a> (<a title=\"NASDAQ | MSFT\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tradingview.com\/symbols\/NASDAQ-MSFT\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSFT<\/a>) has added <a title=\"OpenAI\" href=\"https:\/\/openai.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">OpenAI<\/a> into a <a title=\"Microsoft Bing chatbot\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/bing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Microsoft Bing chatbot<\/a>. <a title=\"Google\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google<\/a> (<a title=\"NASDAQ : GOOG\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tradingview.com\/symbols\/NASDAQ-GOOG\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GOOG<\/a>) is also working on a chatbot named <a title=\"Google Bard\" href=\"https:\/\/bard.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bard<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>Meta has released AI chatbots in the past. But they were not very good. One, named <strong>BlenderBot<\/strong>, was criticized for being simply&#8230; <a title=\"Why is Meta\u2019s new AI chatbot so bad?\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/23307252\/meta-facebook-bad-ai-chatbot-blenderbot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">not very good<\/a>. Another, code-name <strong>Galactica<\/strong> whose goal was to use <a title=\"What is machine learning?\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/topics\/machine-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">machine learning<\/a> to understand and organize science for its users. Facebook fed it 48 million science papers. It created scientific nonsense, or just <a title=\"Why Facebook Shut Down Its AI\" href=\"https:\/\/builtin.com\/artificial-intelligence\/facebook-shuts-down-ai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">provided incorrect information<\/a>. It struggled to understand or compute math at the grade-school level. <strong>Researchers shut down the system<\/strong> after just two days.<\/p>\r\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-128814\" title=\"Train a chatbot\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407-150x88.jpg?resize=125%2C74&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Train a chatbot\" width=\"125\" height=\"74\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407.jpg?resize=150%2C88&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407.jpg?resize=75%2C44&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407.jpg?resize=768%2C453&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/6551fcbf-961c-442f-8c0f-6d65aee4f876-e1688928275407.jpg?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/>It takes <strong>vast amounts of data to train a generative artificial intelligence<\/strong>. A generative artificial intelligence is a system that can produce new text, images, video and other outputs like code and music on their own. These systems rely on the data used to train it, and can reflect any biases, errors or falsities inherent in the original dataset. By <strong>mandating Threads access through Instagram&#8217;s<\/strong> <a title=\"71+ Instagram Statistics for Marketers In 2023 (Data &amp; Trends)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.demandsage.com\/instagram-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2.35 billion<\/a> users, Meta can instantly gain all of Instagram&#8217;s <strong>data to feed it&#8217;s artificial intelligence<\/strong>. By feeding the data from Threads and Instagram into it AI, Meta has significantly increased it ability to train AI to take on OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google.<\/p>\r\n<h3><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-128815\" title=\"published disinformation produced by a Russian troll farm\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/11841ad4-5e00-435d-8609-6c01e9145b90-e1688928935380-150x143.jpg?resize=125%2C119&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"published disinformation produced by a Russian troll farm\" width=\"125\" height=\"119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/11841ad4-5e00-435d-8609-6c01e9145b90-e1688928935380.jpg?resize=150%2C143&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/11841ad4-5e00-435d-8609-6c01e9145b90-e1688928935380.jpg?resize=75%2C71&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/11841ad4-5e00-435d-8609-6c01e9145b90-e1688928935380.jpg?resize=768%2C730&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/11841ad4-5e00-435d-8609-6c01e9145b90-e1688928935380.jpg?w=926&amp;ssl=1 926w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/>2024 Elections<\/h3>\r\n<p>Another possible reason Threads has surfaced now is the U.S. elections. <strong>Election season 2024<\/strong> is heating up and it is estimated that <strong><a title=\"This is the year for political campaigns to prep for a cookieless 2024\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedrum.com\/opinion\/2022\/06\/29\/the-year-political-campaigns-prep-cookieless-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">$1.7 billion dollars<\/a> will be spent on digital media<\/strong> for the elections. Surely Zuckerberg want to use <strong>Threads to grab another large slice<\/strong> of that pie.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is important to remember the shameful role that Zuckerberg&#8217;s Facebook played in the 2016 election. During the 2016 election cycle <strong>Facebook published disinformation<\/strong> produced by a <strong>Russian troll farm<\/strong> to as many as <a title=\"Hard Questions: Russian Ads Delivered to Congress\" href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2017\/10\/hard-questions-russian-ads-delivered-to-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>10 million<\/strong><\/a> <strong>people<\/strong>. Some of the ads were <strong>paid for in <a title=\"Hard Questions: Russian Ads Delivered to Congress\" href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2017\/10\/hard-questions-russian-ads-delivered-to-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Russian currency<\/a><\/strong>. And his subsequent <strong>denial<\/strong>, saying that fake news on Facebook influenced the 2016 election was a \u201c<em><strong><a title=\"Facebook's fake news: Mark Zuckerberg rejects 'crazy idea' that it swayed voters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/nov\/10\/facebook-fake-news-us-election-mark-zuckerberg-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pretty crazy idea.<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u201d 2016 should be ring the warning bells for people who cherish democracy.<\/p>\r\n<h3><em>rb-<\/em><\/h3>\r\n<p><em>Maybe Zuk wants this to be the opening event leading up to the promised cage match between Zuk and fellow megalomaniac techbro Elon Musk.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><em>Whatever reason Zuckerger had to push an incomplete product out he door, his history says it won&#8217;t be good for us.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.obama.org\/updates\/help-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">How you can help Ukraine!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Related article<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a title=\"Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It\" href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/article\/drugstores-pixel-sensitive-data-social-media-companies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It<\/a>\u00a0(<a title=\"KFF Health News\" href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">KFF Health News<\/a>)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><em><a title=\"Ralph Bach\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/new-resume\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0<a title=\"Bach Seat\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bach Seat<\/a>\u00a0about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on\u00a0<a class=\"broken_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rb48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ralph.bach.14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rbach48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:\/\/bach.seat@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meta pushed and incomplete Threads out the door to help its bottom line, not to fight Twitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3652,3691,3697,104,3670,2835,564,3696,60],"class_list":["post-128777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-3652","tag-chatgpt","tag-elections","tag-facebook","tag-meta","tag-russia","tag-social-media","tag-threads","tag-twitter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128777"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129255,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128777\/revisions\/129255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}