Last week I spoke to Abbi Gartcosh-Crosbie from The National about the new social media platform Threads, launched recently by Meta as a rival to Twitter.

The article can be read here

We discussed the privacy concerns raised in relation to Threads, whether it can replace the immediacy and news of Twitter, and what politicians hope to gain from setting up accounts on the new platform.

A few selected quotes are below:

On the future for Twitter if Threads continues to grow in popularity:

“I do wonder if it doesn’t have the key functionality of Twitter, which is to break news and to follow things, and that’s hashtag focused. To me, it probably has a limit in terms of how many people will give up on Twitter completely and move there. Unless Twitter does collapse and maybe that does happen“.

On whether people will migrate from Twitter to Threads in large numbers:

“I think it’s harder to pack up and move an entire group of people there [..] Particularly when they’re used to the kind of rhythms of Twitter and whether it’s following events or following things which are breaking“.

On why politicians might sign up to Threads:

“But there is a question mark there about these platforms, it’s as if almost every politician or party has to be on them because they think that’s where they’re going to reach younger people“

Many thanks to Abbi for the interview.