Both Threads and Bluesky saw a sharp increase in users following the departure from Elon Musk's X.While Bluesky's base has grown by 10 million, just surpassing the 25 million total, the former added 35 million new residents in three weeks, for a total of almost 275 million. However, Bluesky has more of what its users half-ironically refer to as the juice, despite the fact that Threads is officially winning the America's Next Twitter competition, at least in terms of raw statistics. It's just hotter, making more headlines and sparking more discussion, particularly on politics, which Threads decided to deprioritize.
However, all it takes to see how Threads is attempting to clone—or steal—its thunder is additional evidence of Bluesky's recent dominance.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, revealed less than two weeks after the election that Threads will be testing a new feature called dedicated feeds, which would let users create feeds centered around subjects of their choosing. Naturally, in July 2023, Bluesky has already embraced the Choose Your Own Adventure-style feed experience.
There was more feature-poaching to come. The default nonchronological feed of Threads has been displaying posts much past their sell-by date, which has been one of the frequent grievances of its users. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri declared that the platform would become more follower-friendly, displaying users "less recommended content from accounts you don't follow and more posts from the accounts you do" as the proudly default-chronological Bluesky continued to overtake Threads in terms of daily users throughout November.
There was more feature-poaching to come. The default nonchronological feed of Threads has been displaying posts much past their sell-by date, which has been one of the frequent grievances of its users. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri declared that the platform would become more follower-friendly, displaying users "less recommended content from accounts you don't follow and more posts from the accounts you do" as the proudly default-chronological Bluesky continued to overtake Threads in terms of daily users throughout November.
Threads' de-For You Page-ification may have been a reaction to Bluesky's popularity, or it may have just been a great coincidence. But what happened next is obvious. Mosseri revealed on Thursday that Threads is currently developing its own iteration of Starter Packs, which have come to define Bluesky in some ways.
Starter Packs, which were first available on the site in June, let Blueskyers suggest groups of other users in a specific category—from Geology Experts to People Who Make Me Laugh to, uh, Fast Company writers—so that others can follow them all at once (or à la carte). "A way for you to find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about popular topics on Threads" is how Mosseri characterizes Meta's most recent well-known development.
Starter Packs, which were first available on the site in June, let Blueskyers suggest groups of other users in a specific category—from Geology Experts to People Who Make Me Laugh to, uh, Fast Company writers—so that others can follow them all at once (or à la carte). "A way for you to find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about popular topics on Threads" is how Mosseri characterizes Meta's most recent well-known development.
Since Meta has always done this, it is clear why Threads is acting in copycat mode. Zuckerberg is accused of stealing the Harvard Connection idea from Winklevoss, which is even where Facebook got its start. But more significantly, Threads is still a far more popular Other Option—Mastodon with a strong brand presence, whilst Bluesky appears to have solidified in the public's mind as the best substitute for X. It won't be enough to make Threads more like Bluesky to alter that dynamic.
Many Bluesky users who switched from X—which includes politicians, journalists, celebrities, and people affectionately known as shitposters—have already made their decision. They won't be beginning anew anytime soon. Although Threads might be able to stop the influx of new X-pats who are still looking for a place to call home, it seems much less probable to cause a significant number of them to rethink their minds. In fact, Bluesky's users may want to stick with the original the more Threads starts to seem like it.
After all, imitation is a symptom of desperation even though it's the purest form of flattery.
After all, imitation is a symptom of desperation even though it's the purest form of flattery.