Yes, the fight has indeed started, but not in the ring. On July 5, Mark Zuckerberg posted his first tweet in 11 years, while posting the popular meme of identical Spider-Men facing off.

Elon Musk replied with a laughing face emoticon in reply to a tweet that said Meta’s new ‘Threads’ app has been made using a keyword with only the keys for Copy and Paste features.

However, the ‘News of The 2023’ is that Mark Zuckerberg, after taking on Snapchat and TikTok through Instagram’s ‘Story’ and ‘Reel’, has now chosen his next target in the form of Elon Musk, by launching ‘Threads’.

‘Threads’ Is An Instant Hit

While alternatives like ‘Mastodon’ and ‘Blue Sky’ saw an uptick in subscribers after Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, none of them has been able to pose any problem for the micro-blogging platform, which, as per the 2023 stats, has 353.90 million users (3.93% decrease from 2022). It is worth mentioning that ‘Mastodon’ and ‘Blue Sky’ work on a new phenomenon called ‘Decentralized Social Media Protocols’.

However, things have been different for ‘Threads’. It has garnered 10 million subscribers (and the number is still growing), since its July 6 launch. However, regulatory constraints have ensured that the European Union countries won’t be able to enjoy the services of the app.

Brands like Billboard, HBO, NPR and Netflix have already set up their accounts on Threads.

Thread users will need an Instagram account to log in. After signing up, they can follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram.

The app has similarities with Twitter. Retweets will be called “Reposts” and tweets will be mentioned as “Threads”. Posts on Threads can be 500 characters long, compared to Twitter’s 280, while videos with a maximum span of five minutes can also be posted. Also, a post can be shared as a link on other platforms. Along with these, users can unfollow, block, restrict or report profiles/accounts. Post replies will have the ‘Filter’ option as well.

While Threads will have similarities with Mastodon, Meta is also reportedly planning to make the app compatible with ActivityPub, thus entering the domain of ‘Decentralized Social Media’, where social networks are going to be interoperable, and thus allowing the Threads users to take their accounts and followers to other ActivityPub-supported apps.

Zuckerburg’s First Punch A Well-Timed One

As per the Guardian, Meta won’t accept ads on Threads for 2023.

“Currently, the main feed is a mixture of content that users follow, as well as content recommended from the algorithm. There are currently no plans to allow people to limit that to only people they follow. People will keep their usernames from Instagram, reducing the possibility of people name-squatting high-profile usernames,” the report stated.

While people are entitled to call ‘Threads’ the copycat version of Twitter, due to the similarities between the two, Mark Zuckerberg followed similar practices when he took on TikTok and Snapchat. However, the timing of the app’s launch couldn’t have been a better one, as since October 2022, Twitter’s brand value has taken a nosedive due to Elon Musk’s erratic way of handling the micro-blogging platform’s affairs.

It all started with Elon Musk firing the micro-blogging firm’s entire leadership and 70% of the staffers (it has gone over 80% now). These were followed by the chaotic launch of ‘Twitter Blue’. In the meantime, advertisers started pulling out of the platform.

Facing hate speech-related lawsuits across the countries due to its updated content moderation policy, failure to pay property rents, frequent service glitches and the list of troubles has only got bigger for the social media platform in the last nine months. Its valuation has gone down to USD 20 billion in March 2023, way down from the USD 44 billion, which Elon Musk paid while buying the platform in October 2022.

Elon Musk also admitted the difficulties faced by him while running Twitter’s administrative affairs. To address this, American media executive Linda Yaccarino was brought in as the micro-blogging platform’s new CEO a month back.

While analysts thought that the move will bring some sort of administrative sanity to the micro-blogging platform, things have gone southwards since then.

Twitter has now limited how much content users can view on a daily basis. Also, the users are now required to log in to view the site. Also, the platform restricted unverified accounts to viewing 600 tweets a day. The cap was later upped to 1,000.

Elon Musk defended these changes as “temporary limits” meant to address “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation”, while stating that AI companies were taking “vast amounts of data” from Twitter, which forced the latter to perform the ‘costly operation’ of deploying more servers.

The Final Words

Changes are always good and welcome, when they are backed by informed decision-making and employed in a smooth manner. For Twitter, unfortunately, policy changes since October 2022 have brought only frustration for the users and the latter have been pushed to quit the platform.

Mark Zuckerberg has chosen the right moment to pounce upon his rival. Thread has been immensely popular on day one itself. Those, who got tired of Elon Musk’s erratic way of running Twitter’s affairs and were looking out for alternatives, are now bracing the app.

If the duel between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg gets compared with a cage fight, it’s right now standing at the 1-0 scoreline in the favour of the Meta boss. Will his Tesla counterpart, known for his online shenanigans, come up with a response? Let’s wait and watch.

The post IF Insights: Threads vs Twitter: Mark Zuckerberg delivers first punch to Elon Musk appeared first on International Finance.

According to a statement from Canada’s Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, the agreement allows for 21 flights per week for each nation, which will allow for 50% more flights than the maximum number previously allowed, facilitate new routes, and give airlines more flexibility to adjust to market demand.

“Expanding the Canada-UAE air transport agreement will increase people-to-people and business linkages and Canada’s international connectivity. This is terrific news for the tourism industry and Canadians looking to build a middle-class lifestyle,” said Omar Alghabra.

Airlines can exploit the new powers under the extended agreement straight away.

The UAE is a hub for several flights to Asia, so the new arrangement is consistent with Canada’s Indo-Pacific Policy. The UAE is Canada’s most significant Middle Eastern air travel market.

The aviation transport pact between Canada and the UAE was signed in 1999, expanded in 2018, and reconvened in April 2023.

According to the statement, Canada’s ‘Blue Sky’ strategy, which promotes the growth of international aviation services and long-term, sustainable competition, was the main inspiration for the agreement’s expansion with the UAE.

Followed by the pact, Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates has decided to add two flights per week between Dubai and Toronto. From 20 April 2023, daily flights will operate on this route.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ chief commercial officer, said, “Emirates welcomes the expansion of the air services agreement between the UAE and Canada and we would firstly like to thank all stakeholders and authorities who were involved in this pivotal agreement that will provide a boost to the aviation and tourism sectors in both countries.”

“We have been serving customers between Toronto and Dubai since 2007, and although the double-decker A380 aircraft has been operating the route since 2009, demand arising from leisure and corporate travellers, diaspora, and students has consistently outstripped the allocated capacity. This enhanced agreement represents a turning point for us in our strategy to serve our customers better, by offering more choice and flexibility, and meet pent-up demand across our growing network,” the official stated further.

Emirates operates the flagship A380 aircraft on the Dubai-Toronto route, allowing 491 passengers across Economy Class, Business Class and First Class on each flight. With the two additional flights per week from April 2023, Emirates will offer close to 2,000 additional seats to serve the busy route, representing a 40% increase in capacity between its hub city of Dubai and the Canadian point.

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