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so yeah threads is bad

Greg Pak

Fundamentally, the awful algorithmic feed packed with people I don't know talking nonsense feels like I've been shoved against my will into a giant party where a bunch of strangers are shouting at me for my attention. I'm just looking for my friends, who periodically flash by, but I have to wade through throngs to see them for even an instant. And when I get out, I find out my wallet and keys have been stolen with my ID and all my private info.

Basically I'm saying it feels like it was created without any care for the actual users. We're just enticed in to be fleeced. It feels entirely extractive.

Possibly or even probably, once people are following enough friends, the algorithmic feed may calm down enough to feel worthwhile, showing you just enough of your actual friends' posts to keep you visiting. But I feel like in these early minutes, we're looking into its soul, into its true function, into what it wants and needs us to do when we're there, and it feels bad.

Will I end up actually using it regularly? I might, sadly enough! Just as a way to reach thousands of folks that I can't reach via other venues. I'm a freelance creator; much of my business still depends on grass roots contact via social media. But this one doesn't feel too great right now!

@gregpak it feels really exhausting trying to read the posts by people I actually follow when it’s so cluttered with all the brands. It really needs a tab for people you follow for it to be usable for me

@gregpak That does suck and think will keep centralized social media viable for way longer than I'd like. But! If Threads really does federate then you could point your followers to Mastodon or other social media you actually enjoy using! I personally would like to check out my friends Instagram's but am unwilling to support Meta.

@gregpak sounds exactly like FB and Instagram, you’re lucky when your friends posts show up.

@gregpak please, those were stolen. that's the *cover charge* :P

@gregpak Social media companies operating in America or the EU should always have been regulated by broadcast license, like a utility. The utility board gets to say how much money the company makes and how advertising is controlled. What we have now is as if the phone company had been allowed to interrupt your phone call every three or four minutes with an ad from a sponsor.