Twitter is preventing links to Instagram Threads, a rival ,According to reports.
Linda Yaccarino, the recently hired CEO of Twitter, is responding to claims that Twitter traffic is decreasing as a result of the introduction of a new rival, Instagram Threads. She disputes the decline, but it appears that Twitter is doing something to counter the threat that Meta’s competitor platform might pose. Users have claimed that links to Threads.net in Twitter searches are being selectively blocked by Twitter, making it more difficult to locate conversations or user profiles on Threads.
Twitter’s Discriminatory Blocking of Links from Threads.net
When he searched for “url:threads.net” on Twitter but got no hits, technologist Andy Baio spotted the change. Normally, this operator would show tweets that had links to the chosen URL, however it now seems to be disabled. Even without the operator, tweets mentioning threads.net or users’ usernames on the site are returned, but direct connections to threaded conversations are absent.
Links from Competitors Were Previously Blocked on Musk’s Twitter
Twitter has already restricted links to sites owned by rival businesses. The platform restricted those links when Substack released its conversation feature, Substack Notes, by making it impossible to comment to, like, or retweet. However, at least for the time being, the current blockage of Threads links doesn’t go that far.
Tensions Between Musk and Zuckerberg
Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s feud has been more heated as a result of Musk’s “cage match” challenge and Twitter name-calling. While this is going on, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has adopted a less combative stance, emphasising Twitter’s surge in traffic in an effort to reassure advertisers.
Questions Arise About Twitter Traffic As Threads Increase
Yaccarino’s claims of record Twitter usage are puzzling given that multiple data indicate a fall in platform traffic after the introduction of Threads. According to data from online analytics company Similarweb, Twitter’s website traffic decreased by 5% over the first two days of Threads’ availability compared to the prior week. These conclusions were reinforced by further information, such as tweets from Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince.
Despite Threads’ swift growth in popularity because to Instagram’s social graph, its long-term prospects are still unclear. Similar spikes in demand for new apps frequently subside after the initial phase of experimenting. Mastodon, a Twitter rival that peaked at 2.5 million monthly subscribers before falling to 1.9 million, was a clear example of this. Mastodon, on the other hand, has recently experienced growth as a result of Twitter’s difficulties.
Zuckerberg hastily released Threads, even before its online version was completely working, to take advantage of Twitter’s difficulties. The app has surpassed rivals like ChatGPT in terms of growth, surpassing 100 million users in just five days.
