Very few new users were attracted by the anticipated launch of Twitter rival Threads’ web application, new data suggests. Instagram’s Threads, launched in early July, swiftly became the fastest-growing app in the world and initially posed as a legitimate rival to Elon Musk’s platform Twitter, now rebranded as X. Though launched without key features of its rival, its early strategic roll out at a key time when Twitter was facing widespread backlash for policy changes under Mr Musk helped Threads quickly accumulate users. But weeks since its launch, Threads lacked one of the most basic features of social networks – to be able to use it outside of an app. Last week, the Threads web app was finally rolled out, with the platform’s chief and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announcing that the web experience was available for everyone at threads.net. “Let us know what you think,” he said. While in the US, Threads’ website use jumped up by a fifth over the past week compared to the week prior, how this traffic may have contributed to the onboarding of new users remains unclear. Globally, the traffic increase to the platform via the website during this period was also only 3 per cent, according to digital intelligence firm Similarweb. In terms of other parameters as well, Threads’ traffic appears worrying. Mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower reported earlier this month that daily active users on Threads dropped over 80 per cent since the platform’s launch, with only 8 million users using the app daily. There isn’t much data to also suggest there’s a rapid influx of new users signing up to join Threads since its web app launch. Similarweb speculates that much of the new Threads website visitors in the US were likely just older users moving from the app to the web. The Meta-owned app is continuing to test and roll out new features to woo in more users. The company is also starting to test keyword search in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Mosseri said the tests began on Thursday, and would expand to countries including the US “soon”. “Get excited – search is coming to Threads,” Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg posted on Threads along with a GIF of Vin Diesel from the Fast and Furious franchise saying, “I bet you gonna enjoy this.” Read More Threads launches on the web for everyone – apart from Europeans Musk admits X may be doomed to fail as new glitch wipes out pictures from former Twitter platform Twitter/X indicates it will start collecting ‘biometric information’ and ‘employment history’ Threads launches on the web for everyone – apart from Europeans Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for Elon Musk became ‘anti-woke’ because of his daughter’s gender transition, book claims

So far this year, we’ve mostly been seeing artificial intelligence pop up on our timelines as a tool for creating trivial things like odd news songs from classic bands or bizarrely sexualised images of classic artworks However, it looks like AI had a vital practical implementation recently after spotting a dangerous asteroid heading close to Earth that was originally missed by scientists. A 600-foot asteroid named 2022 GN1 was found thanks to a new algorithm, and it was revealed that our planet had a close shave with the object last year. As it’s now been revealed, 2022 GN1 flew a relatively close 4.5 million miles from Earth in September 2022. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It sounds like a huge distance, but it falls within the definition of a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). At the time, it was completely missed due to it being obscured by starlight from objects in the Milky Way. The algorithm, named HelioLinc3D, spotted the object after observing data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) telescope. The team leader behind the algorithm, Mario Jurić, released a statement saying: “This is just a small taste of what to expect with the Rubin Observatory in less than two years, when [the algorithm] HelioLinc3D will be discovering an object like this every night. “But more broadly, it’s a preview of the coming era of data-intensive astronomy. From HelioLinc3D to AI-assisted codes, the next decade of discovery will be a story of advancement in algorithms as much as in new, large, telescopes.” Meanwhile, scientists think they have come up with a new approach to mitigating global warming: put up a giant “umbrella” in space to protect the Earth from excess sunlight. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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