RECORDS

While Threads' 100 million user sign-ups is impressive, a complete coup d'état would require an additional 350 million, which is a substantial shift in user preference just to call this contest a tie. However, in the famous words of Kevin Garnet, anything is possible. No record is unbreakable, ask Kareem Abdul Jabar. Not too long ago, his all-time NBA points record was seemingly an untouchable mark. That was until this past year when we witnessed LeBron James shatter the 38,387 career points record with a one-legged fadeaway shot. Like all great benchmarks, Kareem's was bound to be broken. The difference between Kareem's record and Twitter's user count, however, is that his points mark was surpassed long after he had retired, by a player he'd never faced directly. For Twitter, the threat of a takeover comes from a direct adversary who just so happens to compete in the exact same playing field.

{Meta has 2.09 Billion monthly active users} 

REPLICANT

By the end of 1982's Blade Runner, we as an audience are left to wonder whether the film's central character, Rick Deckard, has or has not been a humanoid replicant throughout the film—spoiler, he is. What is far less debatable is the question of whether Threads is a Twitter replicant, because, like Deckard, it is. Aside from a minimalist logo shaped like an @ sign, Threads offers little in the name of technological ingenuity. There's practically no point of differentiation between it and Twitter. Both apps are designed to have an endless vertical scroll of live text posts. Both have strikingly similar home pages with two columns, one for you and one for following. Even the goddamn blue check is the same—couldn't make it green or something?

Should we be surprised? Meta has drawn inspiration (copied) from direct competitors plenty of times before, taking the popular functions of other successful apps, like Snapchat's stories, and repackaging them as their own, like with Instagram's & Facebook's adaptations of a stories function. Today, we it is Twitter's IP that is being frankensteined into a product that claims novelty in the same way that Greta Van Fleet claims to be anything besides a Led Zeppelin cover band. But they aren't fooling anyone. 

MOSQUITOS

Prior to Meta's xeroxing of Twitter, there had been several warnings from Twitter legal. In a formal letter issued to Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter warned, “[Twitter] reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta”. Simply put, Twitter owns exclusive rights to its own IP—circa its 2013 patent—and holds the right to litigate against any firm that creates an offshoot app that resembles its design. Despite the warnings, Threads is now available to the general public, leaving us to wonder whether Twitter's bite will be as strong as its bark has been. And even so, can a lawsuit do anything to slow the evil empire down? 

In 2017, EU Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager levied a $122 million dollar fine against Facebook for lying about its ability to share user data between Facebook and WhatsApp. The reprimanding, which would've been devastating for a firm of any other size, turned out to be flat-out inconsequential. The $122 million dollar fine amounted to merely 0.6% of the total acquisition price that Meta paid for WhatsApp several years prior. Meta spent $16 billion dollars to purchase WhatsApp in 2014. Today, the private messenger platform is now valued at $105.6 billion. Proves that sometimes the parking ticket is worth the spot. 

Meta is currently valued at $744.55 billion dollars. Can we blame Zuckerberg for caring little about a $122 million dollar fine or the threat of a lawsuit from Twitter legal? He woke up Thursday morning $1.5 billion dollars richer than he was the night before, all thanks to the immediate success of Threads. At this point, fines and lawsuits are mosquitos on the back of an elephant...Not to mention, Twitter is currently valued at $14 billion dollars, which is less than 2% of Meta's total market value. Although the firm's sitting CTO, Elon Musk, is the world's richest man, his net worth is not an indicator of financial strength for the firm he now controls. 

STORIES

In 2013, Meta offered Snapchat $3 billion dollars for a complete buyout, an offer that surely could not be refused. But Snapchat refused. Economists at the time forecasted that the rejection would haunt Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegel, for the rest of his days. But it didn't. Today, Snapchat is valued at $18 billion and continues to thrive as an independent trailblazer within social media. Life lesson kids, bet on yourself. 

The Zuck couldn't buy out Snapchat, so he decided to mimic it. In 2016, just three years after Snapchat's rejection, Mark Zuckerberg held an all-hands meeting where he told employees not to let their pride get in the way of doing what is best for users, even if that meant copying rival companies. Less than a year later, Facebook launched its stories function, blatantly copying Snapchat's stories. Why didn't Snapchat sue you ask? Because they failed to patent their IP, leaving them helpless to tech scavengers like Meta. Zuckerberg may have ripped off Snapchat, but at least he acted with the best interest of the user in mind. 

MOATS

Should Threads succeed in surpassing Twitter, the moats surrounding Meta HQ will become far too deep for any challenger to cross. With TikTok skirmishing with the DOJ and Snapchat too niche to care, the death of Twitter may be the final word in the story of rebellion. Evil Emporer Zuckerberg sits high in his ivory tower, looking down at us all, one step closer to becoming supreme ruler of our attention spans. But wait,  it's not all scum and villainy! In 2019, Meta launched its Oculus Goggles, a product that lacked an established market and had no promise of success. The firm took a risk, for the first time in a long time, blazing the trail for virtual reality. Despite how you may feel about the product, it was original. 

Maybe we should all quit playing Monday morning quarterback and realize that creation is born from influence. Maybe Zuckerberg isn't so much stealing IP as he is simply capitalizing on a market that has proven to be robust (doublespeak). Users liked Snapchat's stories, so he gave us Facebook and Instagram stories. Users liked short-form TikTok videos, so Instagram gave us Reels. And today, with users showing an interest in constant updates and notifications, Meta gives us Threads. Perhaps it's just the natural order of things. Maybe we should just accept that Twitter's reign as social media's prom queen is coming to an end, while the new girl in school leaves all the boys drooling over her. And maybe, just maybe, that entire closing paragraph was entirely sarcastic. 

-M.A