Ordinary Chaos

Tag: twitter/x

  • Bluesky joins Threads to court users frustrated by Meta’s moderation issues

    Bluesky joins Threads to court users frustrated by Meta’s moderation issues

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    Social networking startup Bluesky is seizing the moment. Amid ongoing moderation issues affecting X rival Instagram Threads, the decentralized X competitor Bluesky has created an account on Meta’s newest platform. In doing so, the startup aims to capitalize on the discussions now taking place on Threads, where a number of users are threatening to leave Threads for Bluesky over this latest set of problems.

    On Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the company was looking into the network’s moderation issues, but no resolution has yet come about. Nor has Instagram explained what caused people to have their Threads’ posts downranked and blocked, or their accounts removed or falsely flagged as belonging to underage users. However, many suspect the company is relying on AI-powered moderation systems, which are likely misfiring.

    As conversations about leaving Threads for Bluesky ramped up, Bluesky set up an account and reached out to Threads users, cheekily writing “Heard people were talking about us … so we created an account to share some more information!”

    The company then clarified several key ways Bluesky is different from Threads in terms of moderation. Similar to other social networks, it does employ a moderation team that follows a set of community guidelines. However, Bluesky notes that its team won’t de-rank content if it’s about politics — something that Meta actively chose to avoid ahead of the contentious U.S. election season.

    In February, Meta had said it would no longer recommend political content across Threads and Instagram, saying users would only see this content in their feeds if they actively followed political accounts. That decision led to a creator backlash, which saw hundreds signing a letter about Meta’s move, claiming that limiting the reach of such content “endangers the reach of marginalized folks speaking to their own lived experience on Meta’s platforms.”

    In addition, Bluesky shared on Threads that its moderation system differs from other social networks as well, as it introduces an “open stackable ecosystem” that allows independent organizations to publish their own moderation tools that users can optionally subscribe to in order to filter their feed to their personal preferences.

    The company also touted its support for open source code, account portability, and algorithmic choice and shared one of its starter packs (account suggestions of who to follow).

    Whether the proposed exodus from Threads will actually have a significant impact on either social network remains to be seen. Threads may address the moderation problems well before any departures reach a critical mass. And although Threads users may create accounts on Bluesky to kick the tires, they may not choose to stay given that the network’s size remains dwarfed by Threads. The former has now topped 10.7 million users, but Threads now sees over 200 million active users on a monthly basis.

    Others, meanwhile, may choose to stay on Threads regardless of the current problems. For some, that’s because they remain bitter about how long Bluesky remained an invite-only social network, joking about how they’re still waiting for their invitation.

    Even if Bluesky isn’t able to direct a sizable number of Threads users to its platform, as it did when X was banned in Brazil, it will still benefit from the user feedback it’s collecting. For instance, among the hundreds of replies it’s receiving, people are pointing out the need for better threading on Bluesky’s app as well as connectivity with ActivityPub, the protocol powering Mastodon and soon, Threads, once it fully federates.

    Bluesky responded by saying, “We’re reading all the feedback you have and taking notes,” alongside a link to download its app.

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  • Meta’s Threads app references a communities feature, similar to Elon Musk’s X

    Meta’s Threads app references a communities feature, similar to Elon Musk’s X

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    Meta’s take on a Twitter/X rival, Instagram Threads, may be inching further into its competitor’s territory with the development of a communities feature that would presumably allow users to better organize their discussions on the platform by topics. At least that’s what references in the app’s code seem to imply.

    The code mentions a new feature, called Loops, which was spotted on Monday by Threads early adopter and veteran technologist Chris Messina. The new strings he discovered were introduced in the latest app update and mention things like the joining and leaving of “Loop” communities, as well as fields that refer to the community name, bio, and other elements. (In addition, mentions of “BCN” in the code refer to Barcelona, the internal code name for Threads ahead of its launch; “TextApp” serves as a similar reference.)

    Reached for comment, Instagram did not confirm its plans for these Loop communities or what the feature may entail. However, the company did say the feature was in early development and is not testing either internally or externally at this time.

    Threads app codeImage Credits:Chris Messina
    Threads app codeImage Credits:Chris Messina

    While X’s Communities have not been a standout addition as of yet, X owner Elon Musk has high hopes for their further growth. Since acquiring the social network, Musk has promoted X Communities’ growth and improvement. Earlier this April, he reshared a post that touted how X members were spending 495% more time in Communities, and time spent was up over 600% year-over-year. He also often shares or reshares posts about Communities updates, like the addition of an Explore tab, the ability for moderators to pin posts, timeline sorting options, and other changes that could help X’s feature challenge Reddit’s communities, known as subreddits.

    Musk last year also noted that X was deprecating the private sharing feature, Circles, in favor of improved Communities.

    Threads app codeImage Credits:Chris Messina

    Introducing a similar Communities feature on Threads could also make sense, not only because it makes the app more competitive with X, but also because it reflects how Threads users have begun to organize themselves on the platform.

    Since Threads did away with the traditional hashtag in favor of a different type of hyperlinked tag for following topics, users began tagging their posts to reach different groups using the format of “topic name” followed by the word “Threads.” For example, you can follow tags like “Tech Threads,” “Design Threads,” “Fitness Threads,” “Sports Threads,” and so on.

    However, this system can be confusing because it’s not based on the hashtag that users are already familiar with, and some people include a space between the topic and the word “Threads” while others do not.

    Creating communities to organize topical discussions could be a potential solution to the problem, assuming that’s what Threads is up to with its introduction of Loops.

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  • Meta rethinks smart glasses with Orion

    Meta rethinks smart glasses with Orion

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    Meta Connect 2024 was this week, showcasing new hardware and software to support two of the company’s big ambitions: AI and the metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new Quest headsets, updates to Meta’s Llama AI model, and real-time video capabilities of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The biggest reveal, though, was Orion, a true AR glasses prototype touted as “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”

    OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced this week that she is leaving the company after more than six years. Hours after the announcement, OpenAI’s chief research officer, Bob McGrew, and a research VP, Barret Zoph, also left the company. The high-level departures come less than a week before the start of OpenAI’s annual developer conference.

    One of CloudKitchens’ earliest employees is suing the company. In the lawsuit, Isabella Vincenza alleges wrongful termination, sex discrimination, and a hostile work environment, including an intense “bro culture” at the company. Vincenza also claims that she was “retaliated against for standing up for herself” following her pregnancy and subsequent maternity leave. 

    This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review, where we recap the week’s biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.

    News

    Talk to me, ChatGPT: OpenAI rolled out Advanced Voice Mode following some delays and controversy. The feature has an updated blue spherical look, five new voices, and improved accent capabilities for customers in ChatGPT’s Plus and Teams tiers. Read more

    YC Demo Day: Y Combinator kicked off its two-day “Demo Day” event showcasing what the most recent YC batch companies are building. Here are the companies worth paying attention to out of the event. (Spoiler alert: They pretty much all use AI.) Read more

    Amazon employees vs. RTO: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that employees will be expected to work from the office five days a week starting in 2025. But an anonymous survey created by workers reveals that many who have grown accustomed to a hybrid work structure are “strongly dissatisfied.” Read more

    How much can a phone wallpaper cost? Marques Brownlee, known on YouTube as MKBHD, launched the wallpaper app Panels, where he’s curating high-quality digital wallpapers from artists. But in order to access high-resolution wallpapers without ads, users need to cough up about $50 per year. Read more

    WordPress vs. WP Engine: A heated legal battle is brewing between WordPress founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine — which hosts websites built on WordPress — after Mullenweg wrote a blog post calling WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress.” Read more

    X switches up the block feature: X will soon change how its block feature works so that accounts you have blocked will still be able to see your public posts. Elon Musk clarified that blocked accounts still won’t be able to engage with users who have blocked them. Read more

    RevenueCat turns up the heat: Subscription management platform RevenueCat acquired Dipsea, an app offering subscriptions to “spicy” audiobooks. The idea is to bring a subscription-based app in-house to serve as a testing ground for RevenueCat’s new features. Read more

    RIP, TikTok Music: ByteDance is shuttering its music streaming service, TikTok Music, in November. TikTok Music was rooted in a ByteDance product called Resso, and the service was later available in Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico. Read more

    Meta gets hit with another privacy penalty: Meta has been reprimanded and fined $101.5 million (at current exchange rates) by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for a 2019 breach that exposed hundreds of millions of Facebook passwords. Read more

    Hands-on with Plaud’s NotePin: TechCrunch’s Brian Heater has been testing Plaud’s $169 ChatGPT-powered NotePin to transcribe meetings and take notes. Unlike other AI pins, Plaud’s product feels like a solution to real issues, he argues. Read more

    Analysis

    Sam Altman goes “god mode”: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has historically pitched AI as the solution to the world’s problems, despite its significant impact on the environment. In a new rose-colored-glasses blog post, Altman presents an incredibly positive update on the state of AI, hyping its world-changing potential. But, as TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez notes, much of what he writes is seemingly meant to make skeptics see how much AI matters and could well have the opposite result. Read more

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  • Bluesky catches up to X with native support for video

    Bluesky catches up to X with native support for video

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    Bluesky, the social networking startup now nearing 10 million users thanks to X’s ban in Brazil, will now allow users to share videos of up to 60 seconds in length on its platform, the company announced on Wednesday.

    Designed as a decentralized version of X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky allows users to post text and images, reply and repost, and message users. However, unlike X, Bluesky lets users set up their own servers if they choose, pick their own algorithm, and decide how much or little they want their content moderated by subscribing to independent moderation services.

    With native video support, the network will be able to better compete with other X rivals, including Instagram Threads and the decentralized service Mastodon, among others.

    The company notes that videos will autoplay by default, but this can be turned off in the settings.

    Each post on Bluesky can contain one video, which can also include attached subtitles. Users will be limited to uploading 25 videos or 10GB of video per day as the feature first launches, though these limits may be adjusted over time, Bluesky says.

    Image Credits: Bluesky

    While the company will require users to verify their emails to cut down on video spam, it will allow adult content. Users will be able to label their videos that have adult content, however, so those who don’t want to see this can filter them out of their timeline using moderation controls. Bluesky says it’s processing videos via Hive and Thorn to ensure videos that require a content warning are addressed and to make sure illegal material like CSAM (child sexual abuse material) do not get posted.

    Videos can also be reported for violating community guidelines, which could affect the user’s ability to continue to upload video, the company warns, if the violations are repeated. When a post with a video is deleted, the data will also be entirely purged from Bluesky’s infrastructure, the company notes.

    The feature’s launch may have come a day too late to capitalize on some of the more shareable (or wild!) moments from last night’s U.S. presidential debate, but video support has the potential to make Bluesky a more engaging place to discuss breaking news, politics, pop culture, sports, and more, the company thinks.

    Video follows a number of updates to Bluesky’s app, which last year included an in-app video and music player that supported third-party content, like YouTube, Soundcloud, Spotify and Twitch embeds. This year, the company played further catch-up with X with the launch of DMs (direct messages), a more personalized Discover feed, tools to hide replies, and more. Last month, Bluesky also said it was considering launching something similar to X’s crowdsourced fact-checking feature, Community Notes, as well.

    Support for video uploads will be made available randomly to users in increments until fully rolled out, to ensure the servers can handle the influx of new content, the company says.

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  • Bluesky continues to soar, adding 2M more new users in a matter of days

    Bluesky continues to soar, adding 2M more new users in a matter of days

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    Social networking startup Bluesky continues to benefit from X’s shutdown in Brazil having now added over 2 million new users over the past four days, up from just half a million as of Friday. This rapid growth led some users to encounter the occasional error that would state there were “Not Enough Resources” to handle requests, as Bluesky engineers scrambled to keep the servers stable under the influx of new sign-ups.

    As new users downloaded the app, Bluesky jumped to becoming the app to No. 1 in Brazil over the weekend, ahead of Meta’s X competitor, Instagram Threads. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, Bluesky’s total downloads soared by 10,584% this weekend compared to last, and its downloads in Brazil were up by a whopping 1,018,952%. The growth seems to be having a halo effect, as downloads outside Brazil also rose by 584%, the firm noted. In part, this is due to Bluesky receiving downloads in 22 countries where it had barely seen any traction before.

    In terms of absolute downloads, countries that saw the most installs outside Brazil included the U.S., Portugal, the U.K., Canada and Spain. Those with the most download growth, however, were Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Romania. Most of the latter group jumped from single-digit growth to growth in the thousands.

    Bluesky’s newcomers have actively engaged on the platform, too, driving up other key metrics.

    As one Bluesky engineer remarked, the number of likes on the social network grew to 104.6 million over the past four-day period, up from just 13 million when compared with a similar period just a week ago. Follows also grew from 1.4 million to 100.8 million while reposts grew from 1.3 million to 11 million.

    As of Monday, Bluesky said it had added 2.11 million users during the past four days, up from 26,000 users it had added in the week-ago period. In addition, the company noted it had seen “significantly more than a 100% [daily active users] increase.”

    Bluesky’s appeal to those forced to leave X may have to do with how closely the user experience resembles that of the now Elon Musk-owned app, formerly known as Twitter. Once incubated within Twitter, Bluesky spun out as a separate company and raised its own funding, but still retains much of Twitter’s look and feel.

    Like X, Bluesky offers features like likes, reposts, quote posts, lists, direct messages, search tools and user profiles, but it also improves on X’s capabilities in other ways. As a decentralized social network, users can set up their own instances (servers that run Bluesky and connect to others over the AT Protocol), customize their feeds, subscribe to third-party moderation services, and create and share “starter packs” that link to curated sets of recommended users to follow. In a coming update, Bluesky also plans to add support for video, the company says.

    Another factor to consider here is how Bluesky’s approach to content and moderation differs from Threads.

    Even when it was Twitter, X has long been known as a hotbed for breaking news and political debates, Threads has taken the opposite approach, saying it would not default to recommending political content on its platform. Instead, Threads wants to make itself palatable to brands and influencers, similar to Instagram, as it intends to eventually monetize via ads.

    Given that X’s ban in Brazil is tied to politics — the country wanted control over what could be said on the platform — it’s likely that some Brazilians opting for Bluesky wanted to join a network that was not centralized and as easily controlled. On platforms like X, moderation decisions are left up to the site’s owners, but on decentralized networks, the users are in charge.

    That flexibility combined with Bluesky’s ease of use could make the network a bigger draw than others.

    For instance, though Mastodon offers its own decentralized network, the recent user growth driven by Brazil was on a much smaller scale. On Saturday, Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko said the service had seen 4,200 signups from Brazil, up from 152 signups on August 28, for instance. That could speak to the fact that Brazilians want more than decentralization: They also want a place that more closely resembles Twitter/X.

    Meta has not yet commented on how large an increase it’s seen on Threads driven by Brazilians leaving X, but as a network that already has over 200 million monthly active users, even the addition of thousands or millions more would not be as noticeable a gain, compared with the much smaller Bluesky. Still, it’s also possible that Brazilians wanted to move to a place that was separate from friends, family and creators — one that defaulted to public postings and felt more like Twitter once did. Bluesky’s culture, which tends toward s***posting and memes, has the sort of chaotic energy of an early Twitter.

    X is said to have had north of 20 million users in Brazil, which means there’s plenty of growth to be captured all around.

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