'Old Mark Zuckerberg' is returning
The "winning" attitude of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recently shows that he is returning to the aggressive style of his early days when running Facebook.
For Zuckerberg , the launch of Threads in early July is especially important. Not only competing with Twitter, this social network is also his attempt to assert leadership in the context of Meta at the most difficult period when the metaverse ambitions failed and tens of thousands of employees were laid off. .
The WSJ , citing insiders, shows that CEO Meta's outward triumphant attitude also reflects himself behind the scenes: a person becoming bolder, acting deliberately, and making decisions that are part of the story. assertive like the early years of running Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg's photo was shared by him on Instagram.
Building Threads in a few months
In January, under the direction of Zuckerberg and head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, Meta founded Project 92. This is the code name of Threads, although the meaning of the number 92 has not been revealed.
The staff is said to have worked hard and in secrecy. Their mission was to create a Twitter-like service that would fit in with Meta's existing array of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. The momentum was driven in part after Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, but there were a series of unexpected decisions that caused users and advertisers to leave the platform.
"Inside Meta, the idea of a platform that could provide users with a way to share short-text and multimedia information began to arise, especially as Twitter descended into chaos," the source said. .
Most employees weren't aware of Project 92's existence. Earlier that month, Chris Cox, Meta's Product Manager, revealed a piece during an internal meeting. He said Meta consulted creators and celebrities on Twitter about what they want from the platform and their thoughts on Musk's actions. The answer Meta received was that he wanted Twitter to "be healthy".
The leadership team including Zuckerberg, Mosseri and Cox planned to launch Project 92 at the end of July. However, on July 2, Elon Musk announced a limit on the number of tweets an account can read per day. Meta immediately took action. On July 3, Threads was put on the Apple app store and officially launched on July 5.
Five days later, the application reached 100 million users, the fastest speed recorded in Internet history, breaking ChatGPT's previous record of two months.
"Threads came out at the right time. It was a much-needed morale boost for the company," said Sam Saliba, who was previously global brand marketing lead at Instagram.
The Return of "Once Upon a Time"
As Project 92 gets underway, Zuckerberg is facing challenges in Meta's business. Revenue in the first quarter of 2023 grew slightly, but profit continued to decline.
Threads took only six months to complete. This speed is reminiscent of Facebook's old "go fast and break things" style. It's too early to say that Threads can become the second Facebook, but its early success is helping to mask part of the mistake of CEO Meta over the past time.
Over the past two years, Mark Zuckerberg has almost failed with his metaverse ambitions, and the revenue from advertising on the company's platforms has not been very positive. Meanwhile, they are barely mentioned in the new generation AI race . These are considered the main reasons why Meta cut more than 21,000 employees in just a few months. In early June, the company launched the Meta Quest 3 smart glasses, but were quickly eclipsed by Apple's Vision Pro rival.
With personal life, Zuckerberg's image also becomes more positive in the eyes of users. He regularly posts family photos, participates in Ju-jitsu competitions and wins medals. Last month, he accepted Musk's cage challenge .
Business Insider estimates Threads could generate $5 billion in revenue when commercially mined by Meta. This is insignificant compared to the company's $113.6 billion in ad revenue in 2022. However, according to Justin Patterson, digital media analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, due to the initial focus In terms of user experience, Threads' revenue generation "may not matter" in the near term.
The important thing is that Threads shows Zuckerberg's enthusiasm again. "Success gives Zuckerberg more voice in the technology world, as he shows the image of victory after each Ju-jitsu martial arts match," the WSJ commented. "It also shows that his strategic vision is still very effective, in response to those who have asked him to step down ."
Bao Lam (according to WSJ )
A day of a Facebook boss sixty seven
Mark Zuckerberg hides his son's face on social networks 18
Zuckerberg parodies Musk's comments 15
Threads hit a record of 100 million users in 5 days 11
Musk accidentally 'saved' Zuckerberg 11