The Future of Gaming Communities: Threads vs. Twitter. Who will win?
Gaming communities have always been a cornerstone of the gaming industry, allowing players to connect, share experiences, and build friendships around their shared passion for games. With the rise of social media, platforms like Reddit and Twitter have played pivotal roles in fostering these communities. However, since Elon Musk has turned Twitter into a public fiasco, Mark Zuckerburg has pulled out his shotgun and aimed squarely at the blue bird. And we believe the Zuck will win.
The Rise of Twitter:
Twitter has a unique value proposition when compared to other social media channels. That’s its public nature. You can go and search for every (undeleted) tweet since the company launched in 2006. On top of that, its fast-paced, real-time nature has allowed for rapid sharing of information, news, and opinions. Twitter's brevity, with its character limit, encourages concise and immediate interactions, resulting in a more streamlined and dynamic experience. It’s proven to be one of the most popular public forums for gaming communities.
Twitter also facilitates direct engagement with game developers, industry influencers, and content creators. It offers a level playing field where enthusiasts can directly interact with their gaming idols, fostering a sense of connection and enabling the spread of ideas across a wider audience. Hashtags and retweets enhance discoverability, allowing discussions to extend beyond individual circles of followers and increasing the potential for viral reach.
And then Elon Musk took over.
The fiasco that has unraveled since Elon Musk has taken over, has been nothing short of stunning. 80% of the workforce let go, advertisers have left (who wants their ad to be placed next to anti-semetic content) and Musk has put in a CEO with seemingly no decision power to adjust the negative spiral that the company has found itself in. Result is that we are seeing bots, less moderation, terrible ads and a confusing subscription model.
Meta draws its sword with the launch of Threads:
Mark Zuckerberg is a master in copying great competitor features and a genius business mind. He has been criticized, rightly, for a lack of innovation from within. There is nothing legally wrong with using successful features in the market to improve your productl when there is no patent violation. Picasso is said to have quoted "Good Artists copy, great artists steal".
Meta’s products are easy to use and frictionless. Threads have proved to be just that. With one click, you have migrated all your followers from facebook and Instagram. The hurdle that Mastadon and Truth Social have faced in building a new audience from scratch, wiped out with this beautiful integration of their platforms. And the success has been astounding. 150 million users in 3 months means this app has grown faster than any app in history in this time frame (that includes TikTok and ChatGPT).
Where GameFlavor sees this all heading towards:
Right now we are in a state of people dividing their attention across the two platforms (and others such as Discord that serve a different purpose). This is not how it will stay forever, typically there will be one that wins. Myself (CEO of GameFlavor writing this article), grew up in a world where it was absolutely not clear who would win the race for search: Yahoo in pole position, challenged by Altavista and Ask Jeeves. We think that Threads is in the better position to come on top for signups, usage and ad effectiveness. Musk has the capital to keep Twitter running for many years to come, even though they have reportedly already lost $20 billion in valuation. But I don’t see him do that, his attention is flakey and he’ll likely move on to the next shining thing, if he’s able to exit Twitter without losing face. It’s clear that social media is not his forte, he should stick to the endeavors where he is actually doing humanity a favor and leave social to someone else.
Follow us on Threads!
Or on Twitter :)