Threads copies Twitter again, introduces ‘rate limits’ to combat bots

Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter alternative, Instagram Threads, has been forced to implement rate limits in response to a growing number of reports citing spam attacks and crypto-shilling bots.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri

Following its launch on July 5, Threads witnessed a record-breaking uptake of new users, surpassing 100 million users within five days. Unfortunately for Zuckberg, there seems to be a problem with keeping people engaged with the new Twitter alternative.

Olivia Moore, a partner at crypto venture capital firm a16z found that just one week after launch, daily active users on Threads had fallen 40% with the average daily time per user dropping threefold.

Moore believes the move to import users directly from Instagram doesn’t work for a Twitter-esque app like Threads. By tying user accounts directly to their real-life identities on Instagram, it discourages the modes of social interaction that Twitter is famous for, namely anonymous accounts and fan pages.

It turns out that plugging 100M users into a copycat product isn’t a slam dunk.

One week after launch, DAUs on the ~other app~ are down 40% and average daily time per user dropped 4x.

Why isn’t it working? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rMO4IBHDHf

— Olivia Moore (@omooretweets) July 17, 2023

“Twitter has built a unique social graph and interest graph that’s hard to replace. Even with a copycat product, the underlying networks and user identities developed over a decade are tough to replicate,” said Moore.

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