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In this episode to Uncanny Valleyour hosts discuss Threads as it recently reached 500 million monthly users, which puts it on par with X — but is it really competing, or is it just filling a different niche? Meanwhile, reviews have come in for the Trump-branded T1 phone in recent weeks as it finally begins shipping after a year of delays. Plus: We explain the fast-moving crisis around Senate candidate Graham Blatner, who is stepping down after a long series of controversies.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer Leah Fieger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us on (email protected).
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Leah Weiger: My friend.
Zoe Schiffer: Leah, hello.
Leah Weiger: How are you?
Zoe Schiffer: it’s great. Brian is gone. When the cat is away, the mice won’t talk about any tech conferences.
Leah Weiger: We’re talking about a tool, but it’s-
Zoe Schiffer: It’s one we care about.
Leah Weiger: It’s one we care about. It’s a tool we care about.
Zoe Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED Uncanny Valley. I’m Zoe Schiffer, Business and Industry Director.
Leah Weiger: And I’m Leah Fieger, Director of Policy and Science.
Zoe Schiffer: Today on the show, we discuss how Threads, the Meta competitor to X, has been silently growing and actually catching up to its competitor. Last month, Threads reached 500 million monthly users, making it as popular as Elon Musk’s social media platform. Really surprised me. We’ll discuss what this milestone means in a landscape increasingly obsessed with AI products.
Leah Weiger: We’ll also take a deep dive into Trump’s phone. The announcement, which was announced a year ago, has been postponed several times, and it now appears that applications for the venue have finally arrived over the past few weeks. The phone’s features are exactly what you would expect. Next, we’ll turn our attention to the political disaster taking place in Maine. Democratic candidate Graham Blatner is facing allegations of sexual assault and numerous calls to step down.
Zoe Schiffer: Okay, Leah, let’s dive into the Meta topics first. If you have an Instagram account, you’ve surely seen it. The app is constantly promoted in the main feed. And just for people who aren’t aware, it’s very similar to X, like Twitter. And that’s the point. Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, turned it into Thus, they created Threads as a direct competitor. When it was first launched, it got a lot of press. I was part of that press. I was heralding it, embarrassingly, as the next best new Twitter. But then there was this kind of over-moderation feeling on LinkedIn, at least for me, and it seemed like a lot of others. So, it feels like it’s been dropped off the map a little bit. But then Meta announced, wait, no, 500 million monthly users which puts it on par with X.
