MADRID – Texts of up to 500 characters, videos of up to five minutes in length, or greater control over mentions to prevent trolls from intervening in electoral processes, for example. Does the new network launched by Mark Zuckerberg have advantages over Twitter and other social networks?
Yeah; The new network launched by the founder of Facebook and president of Meta may offer some key advantages and differences compared to existing social networks, although at the moment many unknowns remain, in large part due to the limitations that Threads currently has (it is not available in the EU due to difficulties in complying with data protection laws and is also not available on Android devices).
An expert in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, the professor of the European University and the University of California Irvine Ximo Lizana analyzed with EFE some of these advantages and the possibilities that the new network has to compete with or even unseat Twitter, plagued by successive controversies. since it was acquired by Elon Musk.
And at that point, Lizana warned that both Meta and Twitter have precedents in terms of credibility and data protection and have faced “challenges” and faced sanctions for privacy problems, although in her opinion that does not imply that the new The network is worse positioned than Twitter to offer a “robust, reliable and secure” platform and has claimed to have some of the “most advanced technological and strategic minds in the world” on its team.
Collaborator of some twenty technology corporations and with experience in some of the most advanced technology centers in the world -among them the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Texas Tech- he valued the irruption of the new network as “a good start” – with more than 30 million users in two days – although he has observed that it is still a modest number compared to the billions that the main platforms add up.
According to this expert, the ability that Meta has to overcome the current limitations of the new network and to adapt to the different regulations in each geographical area will determine if it can achieve the goal of competing with and even unseating Twitter, whose monetization strategies are their trial, disconnecting their communities and causing them to search other “fishing grounds”.
Among the main advantages of the new Network, Ximo Lizana cited the association with Instagram (without it, the new one cannot be accessed), which can make both grow “spectacularly”; the innovative user interface; integration with other platforms of the Meta group; a greater ability to organize and follow conversations; o advanced filtering and moderation tools; as well as a more personalized user experience focused on individual interests.
Get the details of this new social network here.
And add: texts of up to 500 characters; videos, links or photos of up to five minutes; “symmetric” verification if the user is already verified on Instagram; and greater control over mentions and responses (which in his opinion can neutralize “trolling” in electoral processes).
Although the social networking market is “highly saturated”, Ximo Lizana considers that there is still room for new platforms, and maintains that the changes that Twitter has introduced in recent months have weakened some of its “foundational stones”.
“In such a competitive environment, this may constitute an opportunity for the adversary seeking to broaden its range of action, which is what has happened, apparently,” he told EFE.
He also observed that the large social networks are also the livelihood of millions of people who have built the foundations of their businesses on “someone else’s business” (influencers, disseminators or artists who monetize their content under the umbrella of these “mastodons” of the social interaction), and changes in algorithms or in content segmentation or filtering can affect them in a very direct and decisive way.
If Tik Tok succeeds among children, Instagram among adolescents and WhatsApp among adults, the profile of Threads users will depend, according to the university professor, on how it is positioned and evolves, but he pointed out the probability of attracting many of the users of Meta platforms (Facebook or Instagram) and those looking for a social network more focused on organizing conversations and personalizing content.
