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In this section about Uncanny ValleyOur hosts talk about Threads as it recently hit 500 million users per month, putting it on X-but is it really competing, or just filling another slot? Meanwhile, comments have been pouring in about Trump’s popular T1 phone in recent weeks as it began shipping after a year’s delay. Plus: We cover the fast-moving crisis surrounding Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is stepping down after a long tussle.
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You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and Leah Feiger on Bluesky on @leahfeiger. Write us at (email protected).
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Notes
Note: This is an automated document, which may contain errors.
Leah Feiger: Hey friend.
Zoë Schiffer: Leah, hello.
Leah Feiger: How is it going?
Zoë Schiffer: That’s great. Brian is gone. When the cat is gone, the mice don’t talk about technical meetings.
Leah Feiger: We’re talking about a weapon, but it’s—
Zoë Schiffer: It’s one we care about.
Leah Feiger: It’s one we care about. It’s a tool we care about.
Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I’m Zoë Schiffer, business and industry director.
Leah Feiger: And I’m Leah Feiger, a political science major.
Zoë Schiffer: Today on the show, we discuss how Threads, Meta’s competitor in X, has been quietly growing and catching up to his rival. Last month, Threads reached 500 million monthly users, making it as popular as Elon Musk’s website. It really surprised me. We’ll discuss what this field means in the increasingly crowded space of AI products.
Leah Feiger: We’ll be tapping into Trump’s phone again. Announced a year ago, it has been delayed several times, and it seems that the pre-orders have been arriving for the past few weeks. The features of the phone are what you would expect. Next, we’ll be looking at the current political situation in Maine. Democratic candidate Graham Platner is facing sexual assault allegations and calls for his resignation.
Zoë Schiffer: Okay, Leah, let’s dive into Meta’s Threads first. If you have an Instagram account, you’ve seen it. This program is always recommended in large meals. And just to catch people who don’t know, it looks like X, like Twitter. And that’s the point. Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, changed it to X, and Meta saw an open space because people were very disappointed with the way Elon Musk was running the platform. And so, they created Threads as a direct competitor. When it was first introduced, it got a lot of press. I was part of that press. I was announcing it, embarrassingly, as the new, next, best Twitter. But then it had that kind of LinkedIn feel, at least to me, and it seemed like a lot of others. And so, it seems like it’s been dropped off the map a little bit. But Meta announces, wait, no, 500 million monthly users are putting it in X terms.
