Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • July 13, 2023
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

Threads Foreshadows a Big—and Surprising—Shift in Social Media

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Liang Wu
  • Format:Electronic
ShareBar

Abstract

Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, has become the fastest downloaded app in history. One of the reasons for this is because it allows users to port over their profiles and follows from the already popular social media platform Instagram, also owned by Meta—a feature that may soon extend to open social media protocol Activity Hub. In doing so, Threads suggests that an alternative approach to social media, in which user data is portable, interoperable, and not controlled by the platform, may be going mainstream.

Keywords

Decentralization; Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; Crypto Economy; Blockchain; Network; Industrial Organization; Competition; Open Innovation; Open Platforms; Open Source Innovation; Social Networks; Social Media; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

Citation

Kominers, Scott Duke, and Liang Wu. "Threads Foreshadows a Big—and Surprising—Shift in Social Media." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (July 13, 2023).
  • Register to Read

About The Author

Scott Duke Kominers

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • June 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Konko AI: Automating Work with AI Agents

    By: Shikhar Ghosh, Shweta Bagai and Liang Wu
    • June 2025
    • Journal of Finance

    Collusion in Brokered Markets

    By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery
    • March 2025 (Revised May 2025)
    • Faculty Research

    NEAR Protocol: Self-Sovereignty in the Age of AI

    By: Shikhar Ghosh, Liang Wu and Mahesh Ramakrishnan
More from the Authors
  • Konko AI: Automating Work with AI Agents By: Shikhar Ghosh, Shweta Bagai and Liang Wu
  • Collusion in Brokered Markets By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery
  • NEAR Protocol: Self-Sovereignty in the Age of AI By: Shikhar Ghosh, Liang Wu and Mahesh Ramakrishnan
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.