This might help explain the spectacular launch of Threads

MusketeerX@lemmy.world to Fediverse@lemmy.world – 1734 points –

Automatically creating a shadow account for everyone on Instagram?

Even allowing people to follow that account?

Sounds like they really wanted to push Threads out the door in a big way.

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Why would anyone be surprised by this? Zuckerberg would have to be a complete idiot to not use Instagram's existing social graph for Threads.

What I'm surprised about is that he didn't use Facebook.

If you look carefully at Meta's actions in the last few years, you'll notice they're slowly stepping away from the Facebook brand and product. I suspect that they no longer internally consider Facebook to be their main product, giving way for Instagram, which at the moment is a lot more popular and despite the obvious association doesn't have a tainted name the same way Facebook does.

I wondered if it might be something to do with the real name policy on Facebook. Instagram is closer to Twitter in not having such a policy.

That was my first thought as well. Facebook is simply too different to Twitter in ways that Instagram is actually similar. On Facebook you're blogging your life for others to follow. On Instagram and Twitter people are blogging a little of their own, but most users are there to follow others (usually big names or important people) and to comment on events those larger names are blogging about.

Same here. I reread it because I thought I missed the word "Facebook".