Threads, Twitter and the misery of addiction

Could Threads kill Twitter? Tens of millions have signed up to Meta’s rival app since it was launched this week. Its early success has led to renewed predictions of Twitter’s imminent doom. 

When Elon Musk sacked half Twitter’s staff and pronounced himself Chief Twit back in November, the scoffing was endless – and has continued ever since.

‘It’s been an unmitigated disaster,’ wrote Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times, back in April. ‘The speed and totality with which he’s (Musk) ruined the site have been almost impressive,’ before falling back on mystical definitions: ‘Cultural relevance is difficult to quantify, but you know it when you feel it. And now… Twitter rarely feels like the place where everyone is gathering to watch.’

‘Twitter is in a death spiral which gets more difficult to escape with each passing day,’ wrote James Ball in the New European this week. ‘It is much easier to run an influence operation to push false narratives or intervene in an election than it used to be,’ he added.