Oh fuck no. The very first line is basically a HIPAA violation. It gets worse from there. We require less disclosure from Supreme Court Justices and Presidential nominees.
This is a trainwreck waiting to happen - even if Facebook itself doesn't abuse this level of power, you know that bad actors within the organization will. And once the information is collected, you know that tyrannical governments all over the world will be falling over themselves to get access to the data. This is a stalker's wetdream, an Orwellian orgasm of truly grotesque proportions.
Keep the Fediverse from Zucking. Just say no to Threads.
People on Twitter are already trying it because Twitter has been shit.
Someone in my circle created their account and already deleted it. Their explanation was a FAQ screenshot for Threads saying that it doesn't matter who you follow or who follows you, the algorithm will show or hide things from you based on what they think you will enjoy and there's no way around it and you also can't sort by new.
I mean, are companies really paying attention to user needs? Lol
No! - I'm not a dumbfuck. Mark Zuckerberg once said people who trust him with their personal information are dumbfucks. I have never had an account on any of his platforms, and never will. If something I'm using integrated with his products I'd just stop using it. Just no!
Just seeing the list of privacy data collected is enough to make me baulk. I barely ever use Facebook or Twitter as is, I'm not touching that shit with a 10ft pole.
While I'm not in the "everything for-profit companies does is inherently evil" camp, Meta has done some sketchy stuff.
It's mostly microblogging from what I can tell, and that's best in smaller instances or instances heavily moderated / filtered to feel that way which Threads likely won't be
It's name, even though it won't really be mixed threads like the name implies, will mess up momentum for the Threadiverse to mean AP actual threaded apps, and terms are hard.
I'm sure their TOS, privacy policies, or moderation policies aren't going to be any better than other Meta apps.
That being said, I do like:
They are planning to federate via AP unlike Bluesky
Privacy-wise, I already use Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, and I'm pretty sure that Mark Zuckerberg knows everything that he'd ever want to know about me. I largely believe in the conspiracy theory that Meta actively listens in on users in some way to serve them ads and targeted content, even if the evidence is circumstantial at best.
Despite this, would I still use Threads? Probably not.
Microblogging isn't my thing. 140 characters is nowhere near enough space to articulate your thoughts and it feels like the site was originally designed around SMS text message limitations more than anything. I also don't like how the only way you can get any genuine interaction on places like Twitter or even Mastodon is to be a celebrity.
I do agree that we should collectively defederate Threads much in the same way that everybody on the fediverse collectively blacklisted Gab, not necessarily as a fuck-you to Zuckerberg, but because a flood of Instagram normies would completely cripple other instances with traffic.
The last thing I need in my life is to have my privacy debased by another data collection app disguising itself as social media, and even less to participate in another echo chamber shitshow like Facebook or Twitter. Hard pass…
Tangentially-related, I'm actually really excited to use Threads's federation with Mastodon to bring interested friends and family over to Mastodon. If you get all the same benefits (connection, more people) with none of the ads or privacy downsides, then it seems like a no-brainer to join Mastodon over Threads.
But to answer the question, no. I run my own Mastodon (and Lemmy) server. I'm kind of all-in on the fediverse.
Nope. I have a barely-used Instagram account from before the sale to Facebook. I keep it in hopes that, someday, a regulator will force them to sell IG or spin it off. I have zero interest in having anything else to do with Facebook or any of its subsidiaries.
Do I hope that it gets used by others? Yeah, at least a bit. Because if Meta assigns more engineers to work on fedi tech like improving ActivityPub that would be a huge win for the fediverse in general. That assumes they actually contribute to open source, but Meta/FB actually has a reasonable track record there.
I hate to think that it might gain popularity with the Crowd trying to leave Twitter.
I certainly don't plan on trying it. I have several friends that think Bluesky or Thread will be a good move after Twitter, but I can't see either option being good for the userbase long term.
I can't see any reason for me to ever try it. I've got plenty of social media to deal with already, and this doesn't seem to be offering anything new or interesting for me. Plus the creepy permissions even keep me away from joining temporarily out of any curiosity I might have.
Absolutely the fuck not. There's no room at the Inn for whores like me on Meta apps ¯\(ツ)/¯
I was permanently banned from Instagram a few months ago because I'm a pornstar. A lot of industry folks were banned around the same time. In retrospect, I wonder if they were trying to clean up the app ahead of the launch of Threads.
I had experienced temporary bans before over the years, we all had. But losing my account and then having my new account banned again within two days, all without posting anything even approaching NSFW was fucking awful. It really hurt a lot of us financially.
So fuck no, I'm not going to spend my time creating content and IP, posting photos, and engaging with my fans on their new platform. I doubt I could join it anyway.
I think we need to cut them the fuck off here. It's obvious Meta sees the Fediverse and Mastedon as a competing threat to its communication ecosystem and wants to EEE ths shit out of ActivityPub
I don't know why you'd switch from the clusterfuck that is Twitter to anything made by Meta, one of the worst tech companies out there. It's like trading a turd for a piece of shit.
Mastodon is the only reasonable alternative IMO, the only problem is that not enough people are on there.
no definitely not installing it or opening an account.
I'm not against federation tho, I'd be in favour of showing people you can get all the same content through another channel. defederating means that people will have to use it if there's content from someone they like on there. I don't want to give people a reason to install that shit.
I think the idea of it is pretty smart, Instagram probably has a lot of shared users with Twitter. If the quality of Twitter decreases then Instagram making a competitor seems like an easy win, especially if the issues plaguing Twitter aren't plaguing Instagram. The privacy concerns due to required permissions are probably the most concerning, but if you were using Twitter and Instagram you're probably not even considering that.
I'm definitely not going to try it, but I kinda hope Twitter completely busts at this point. Elon's next autobiography is going to be, "The Art of the Deal 2: How I won by losing $44 Billion."
I'm on Instagram and have a bunch of followers, around 200K.
SO - My plan is to squat as the IG users pick up Threads. Most people will just follow the same people from IG (Meta encourages it and it fills your feed fast).
My follower count on Threads should grow just from that alone, right?
THEN - Facebook finally federates, right?
THEN! Facebook allows for account migration to Mastodon.
After reading another post where it was shown all the private information the app requires, I’ll never even be close to it (a quick resume: location, device information, user profiles on other apps, payment information, even health information).
Edit: found a link (it’s a meme, but the screenshot shows what i’m referring to):
https://lemm.ee/post/653305
The content is very generic, a lot of people trying to subtly beg for followers, but the worst part is there is no following feed at all, just one (poorly so far) curated page.
Literally the first time I am hearing about this now.
I hate FB but I think I hate Elon even more, so if Thread kills off Twitter that would be great.
But I have my doubts.
Everyone already hates all the bullshit that FB does and flying under the Meta banner changes nothing. The tech/young/hip demographics needed to get a platform going seem to be distancing themselves away from FB as being an "uncool" company.
Meta has alienated so many people that they are going to have a hard time breeaking into new product categories because people just don't want to use their products unless essentially forced to. Look at their VR headsets. From a hardware perspective they really are quite good, but so many stupid, stupid policy decisions (such as needing a FB account originally) that folks rather do without than deal with them.
Nope but I didn't use twitter either, nor will I use Mastodon. Just not my cup of tea as it is a vile place and you can clearly see in the last couple of twitter years why I was right on this one. Mastodon and Threads will suffer the same fate imho. This type of platform attracts....certain weird and extreme people.
No. I'm 40. Its exhausting trying to give all my personal data away to all these different spaces now.
Time was, a man could give up all his personal data on just one platform. I would rest easy knowing that every goverment in the world had proof that I am not a terrorist, and every buisness knew how much porn I watched.
But now theres so many and I'm just one guy. I can't keep track of them all. It makes me feel too old for this world.
Every instance owner should be looking to sign this. Every time you see Meta bullshit posted, please repost this. Also idk how to tag people and I know he's super busy as of late but calling on Ruud@lemmy.world to get on board with this as well. With the ever growing size of his community it is his responsibility to help us protect the Fediverse.
"i am an instance admin/mod on the fediverse. by signing this pact, i hereby agree to block any instances owned by meta should they pop up on the fediverse. project92 is a real and serious threat to the health and longevity of fedi and must be fought back against at every possible opportunity"
You'll need a facebook account, so no, probably not. Despite whatever security concerns there are for other platforms, I don't want to give Meta any more of my information than they've already stolen from me if I can help it.
it's kinda weird to me that some people are ?excited? about it. it's Meta, it's the Zuck Suck. it's a twatter clone, and we all know how's that going after another rich twat took it over, and isn't it already full of the "crazies"? like to me, it has all the hallmarks of being just another soulless cash grab by another megacorp to take twatter's place, not that it's surprising. so it's a resounding no from me.
I have said this in a different thread but Mastodon will always have an adoption issue because the use for twitter is the ability to follow marginally known to famous people that you want to hear for whatever reason (for me sports, finance, tech stuff etc) and occasionally interact with them or even become a followed twitter person yourself. Mastodon may not reach critical mass on its own but being federated and connected with people that use a twitter like service from Meta will greatly open up the opportunity to use Mastodon like many would want to use Twitter.
The bigger issue will be how well the connection works and there is always going to be concern with how meta uses the data, but for me it does make mastodon more appealing...
I tried it, as I'm looking forward to MORE people using the fediverse.
However, I do not like anything about the app.
Your Home feed is just random posts by people - all served up via algorithm based on what others have liked.
It's basically the shitty part of Twitter's "For You" feed, except that is the ENTIRE Threads app. No timeline for those you follow, no lists, no trending, etc.
I honestly don't think that threads will ever be part of the fediverse they will use activitypub to connect Facebook threads and Instagram and nothing else people think that there joining the fediverse because there incorporating activitypub but I don't see it happening
Nope. Never had a Twitter account either. The whole concept is stupid and just brings a lot of noise from the type of people you'd never hear from in years gone by.
Too much data collection for my tastes. That and Facebook have shown. That they don't know how to maintain a healthy and engaging community. It would just become another doom scroll rather than anything interesting. But I'll watch what happens.
Absolutely, yes. I almost always try the newest networks/apps because I like to see for myself whether I think they're going to be a hit and/or worthwhile.
I hate meta and honestly don't think Threads will bring anything new that other fedi software already has. I'm also quite happy with all the software available so don't see a reason to use Threads. I am curious to see if people who previously didn't use the fediverse or found it too confusing etc will like Threads.
While I'm on the microblogging side of fedi I'm gonna be staying far away from Threads, I like that there's more attention on ActivityPub now, and they're free to make it if they want, but I just can't see myself using it really.
I might use it for notifications, which basically what I did with Twitter, follow certain accounts that provided realtime updates on something, like for example game stores for preorders. Basically the alternative to the ,much missing in some pages, RSS.
Commenting, submitting or simply scroll it ,nope, I didn't do it on Twitter except once or twice.
Will I talk with people who use threads if available, maybe if a topic peaks my interest. I'm not completely against meta's use of the federation, and all I do hope is they contribute to some content and discussion of topics and development of the platform.
I try already but it's a little boring for me, I already had Instagram to talk to my friend so I don't see purpose to use a social media to just write things with the people I already followed in Instagram when I just can send a DM or ask for other social media they use if I don't want to use IG. Its my opinion
Contrary to the majority consensus here, I already utilize Instagram so this data has already been collected for years. (An unfortunate “what’s new”)
We’ll see if it catches on at all…it will be nice once we can see “Threads” from Mastodon so that I can use any of the more privacy respecting apps out there, but until then I think it’s worth seeing how things work.
Once hashtags (& maybe trends) get added, we will get a honeymoon phase, before it all gets bloated TF. Give it a few months and we will have Threads Stories, THCAST for long-form audio/podcasts (with AI transcription), e-commerce Thread Shops...
I dunno if I'd use the app itself, but I am hopeful it gets traction among "normal" people because I miss following my friends on Mastodon. Threads seems to be the best way to get average non-techy people to accept the fediverse.
Now, I don't trust Meta at all. But I hope I can at least follow my friends' Threads from Mastodon or here on Kbin.
Zero interest whatsoever. The only way i'd see them is when people post their shit elsewhere and it's worth seeing.
I only ever visited twitter to see content posted by people that was cross shared elsewhere. I have zero interest in utilizing platforms similar to it and would prefer something in the same style as reddit because it allows for everything - self sites with selfposting, interest based sites where you talk about similar topics, and also generalist sites.
I just can't help it when local news happens and it's linked to a sub and the source is what it is.
Only reason I would consider threads is to post the anti fedi pact and make it harder for them to succeed with turning our safe haven into their corporate dystopia.
I think I'm a bit of an outlier here, because I tried it (I already had an IG account) - but the bombardment of influencer-types, big-name brands, and having zero-control over my feed gave me more than enough reasons to leave for good.
I am on kbin.social. I worry that if kbin doesn't defederate from Threads, maybe kbin's servers will be flooded with Threads data (i am not techy, so maybe this would be a minor issue). Also, if someone in the Fediverse but outside of Threads starts communicating with someone who has a Threads account, will the non-Threads person now have all of their data that's now on Threads servers collected?
The only reason I've held on to Instagram and Facebook is I do like to see updates from friends I haven't seen in a while, especially as a lot of them are getting married and having kids. I'm not close enough to them to reach out and text them for an update, but close enough to say "oh hey, they just had a baby, that's nice" and then move on.
Facebook I actually don't even do that, I just use it for a music gear swap because they post cheap stuff sometimes. If there weren't such good deals, I'd drop Facebook instantly.
i don't use twitter anyway, so my plan is to enjoy this virtual boxing match between musk and zuckerberg until they actually follow through on their real punchup.
I’m interested to see how Threads connects with other social media platforms (like Mastodon), but I’m not using an app with such an invasive privacy policy.
I'm still waiting for Blue Sky, but at this point its either Mastodon or something else (like Threads) because Blue Sky just seems to be taking an eternity. Something is going to replace Twitter and at this point I just don't know what it will be.
I think it's exciting. I don't hate Twitter, but a competitor with big money back in that's potentially going to integrate with the fediverse? That's fucking exciting.
Will they actively contribute or fork it? Who knows.
Not until they add some basic features and we get some answers on the data collection.
It doesn't even offer a reverse chronological list of posts with only people you follow. That is basic, day 1 level functionality for me.
I don't think I'll use it in any serious way. I left Facebook years ago now. I have an Instagram but never use it. I'm just not a user of Meta's products. But I'll reserve my handle and if Twitter itself finally craps the bed at least I'll have one more off ramp.
I'll probably go and look at it just to see what it's like, but not make an account. I have never used Twitter or Instagram and have no desire to, Lemmy and the few others I am on are enough for me.
I said I would never join facebook. Or msn messenger. Or Discord. Or Twitch. Or Twitter. But then everyone and their grandmas started using them. And despite knowing already back then they would use me as the product, I hesitantly joined.
So if they manage to release an EU-legal version, and everyone-ish joins, and mastodon becomes barren, I might join. Again. Its not like they dont know everything about me already.
The cynic in me have realized most people jumps on whatever is advertised to them and is cheap, and call anything that isnt advertised enough or too expensive for "difficult" or "looks stupid". Those who claims ads doesn't work on them are extra prone to jump on anything commercial while downtalking better and free'er options. So we can't win this way.