Maine’s Senate Race Implodes, Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X, and the Trump Phone Arrives
Maine’s Senate Race Implodes, Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X, and the Trump Phone Arrives
Title: Maine’s Senate Race Implodes, Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X, and the Trump Phone Arrives 标题：缅因州参议院竞选崩溃，Meta 的 Threads 挑战马斯克的 X，以及“特朗普手机”终于问世
In this episode of Uncanny Valley, our hosts discuss Threads as it recently hit 500 million monthly users, putting it on par with X—but is it really competing or just filling a different niche? Meanwhile, the reviews have been coming in for the Trump-branded T1 phone in recent weeks as it finally started shipping after a year of delays. Plus: We explain the fast-moving crisis around Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is stepping down after a long string of controversies. 在本期《恐怖谷》（Uncanny Valley）节目中，主持人讨论了 Threads 最近月活跃用户达到 5 亿，使其与 X 并驾齐驱——但它真的是在竞争，还是仅仅填补了不同的市场空白？与此同时，特朗普品牌的 T1 手机在推迟一年后终于开始发货，近几周评论也陆续出炉。此外，我们还将解释围绕参议院候选人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳（Graham Platner）迅速发酵的危机，他在经历了一系列争议后宣布退选。
Leah Feiger: Hey buddy. Leah Feiger： 嘿，伙计。
Zoë Schiffer: Leah, hello. Zoë Schiffer： Leah，你好。
Leah Feiger: How’s it going? Leah Feiger： 最近怎么样？
Zoë Schiffer: It’s great. Brian is gone. When the cat is away, the mice will not be talking about any tech conferences. Zoë Schiffer： 很好。Brian 不在。猫不在家，老鼠们就不会谈论任何科技会议了。
Leah Feiger: We’re talking about a gadget, but it’s— Leah Feiger： 我们要谈论一个电子产品，但它是……
Zoë Schiffer: It’s one we care about. Zoë Schiffer： 一个我们关心的产品。
Leah Feiger: It’s one we care about. It’s a gadget we care about. Leah Feiger： 一个我们关心的产品。一个我们关心的电子产品。
Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I’m Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry. Zoë Schiffer： 欢迎收听《连线》（WIRED）的《恐怖谷》。我是商业与行业总监 Zoë Schiffer。
Leah Feiger: And I’m Leah Feiger, director of politics and science. Leah Feiger： 我是政治与科学总监 Leah Feiger。
Zoë Schiffer: Today on the show, we’re discussing how Threads, Meta’s competitor to X, has been silently growing and actually catching up to its rival. Last month, Threads reached 500 million monthly users, making it as popular as Elon Musk’s social platform. Truly caught me by surprise. We’ll discuss what this milestone means in a landscape that’s increasingly obsessed with AI products. Zoë Schiffer： 今天节目中，我们将讨论 Meta 的 X 竞争对手 Threads 是如何悄然增长并真正赶上其对手的。上个月，Threads 的月活跃用户达到了 5 亿，使其人气与埃隆·马斯克的社交平台不相上下。这确实让我感到惊讶。我们将讨论在当今这个日益痴迷于人工智能产品的环境下，这一里程碑意味着什么。
Leah Feiger: We’ll also be diving into the Trump phone. The one that was announced a year ago, delayed quite a few times, and now apparently the place orders have finally been arriving over the past few weeks. The phone’s features are exactly what you would expect. Then, we’ll be turning our attention to the political debacle happening in Maine. Democratic nominee Graham Platner is facing allegations of sexual abuse and numerous calls to step down. Leah Feiger： 我们还将深入探讨“特朗普手机”。这款手机一年前发布，多次跳票，显然过去几周预购订单终于开始送达了。手机的功能正如你所预料的那样。随后，我们将把注意力转向缅因州发生的政治惨败。民主党候选人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳正面临性虐待指控，并遭到多方要求其退选的呼声。
Zoë Schiffer: OK, Leah, let’s dive in to Meta’s Threads first. If you have an Instagram account, you’ve definitely seen it. The app is constantly being promoted in the main feed. And just to catch people up who aren’t aware, it looks a lot like X, like Twitter. And that is the point. Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, turned it into X, and Meta basically saw a wide-open field because people were so upset with how Elon Musk was running that platform. And so, they created Threads as a direct competitor. When it first launched, it got a ton of press. I was part of that press. I was heralding it, embarrassingly as the new, next, better Twitter. But then it just had this kind of overly moderated LinkedIn feel, at least to me, and it seemed like many others. And so, it feels like it’s dropped off the map a little bit. But then Meta announces, wait, no, 500 million monthly users, putting it on par with X. Zoë Schiffer： 好的，Leah，我们先来聊聊 Meta 的 Threads。如果你有 Instagram 账号，你肯定见过它。该应用一直在主信息流中被推广。对于那些不了解的人，它看起来非常像 X，也就是 Twitter。这正是重点所在。埃隆·马斯克在 2022 年收购了 Twitter 并将其改名为 X，Meta 基本上看到了一个广阔的市场空间，因为人们对马斯克运营该平台的方式感到非常不满。因此，他们创建了 Threads 作为直接竞争对手。它刚推出时获得了大量媒体报道。我也是那些报道者之一，当时我还尴尬地称它为“下一个更好用的 Twitter”。但后来，至少对我来说，它给人一种过度审核的 LinkedIn 的感觉，似乎其他人也有同感。所以，它感觉有点淡出了人们的视野。但随后 Meta 宣布，等等，不，它拥有 5 亿月活跃用户，与 X 不相上下。
Leah Feiger: I mean, I love this for so many reasons, which is of course Meta kind of accidentally lucked into a product that people are actually using in a consistent way. Leah Feiger： 我的意思是，我喜欢这一点有很多原因，当然是因为 Meta 某种程度上意外地获得了一个人们确实在持续使用的产品。
Zoë Schiffer: Yes, and if you have distribution, there is just so much you can do. It’s a little bit too big to fail in some ways, because if you have an app like Instagram and you’re just forcing Threads on everyone, which is what they were doing, at the very beginning, you couldn’t delete Threads without also deleting your Instagram account, which is so nuts. So yeah, you can get a fair amount of adoption. And it does look like the app now operates a little more like Reddit. It’s like these very specific conversations. People are on there talking about Heated Rivalry or K-pop or whatever, and it’s supposed to be a nicer place to discuss stuff. Zoë Schiffer： 是的，如果你拥有分发渠道，你就能做很多事情。在某种程度上，它有点“大到不能倒”，因为如果你拥有像 Instagram 这样的应用，并且强行向所有人推广 Threads（他们一开始就是这么做的，甚至如果不删除 Instagram 账号就无法删除 Threads，这太疯狂了），那么是的，你可以获得相当多的用户采用率。而且看起来该应用现在的运作方式更像 Reddit。它更像是针对特定话题的讨论。人们在上面谈论激烈的竞争、K-pop 或其他任何事情，它本应是一个讨论问题的更友好的地方。
Leah Feiger: Yeah. And I think that’s 100 percent right. Back to the Zuckerberg of it all, he said that it’s not their massive priority. It’s not their massive project. Like you mentioned, they’re way more all-in on their AI projects at the moment, but you can’t overemphasize enough the vertical integration of it all. Of course, there is already an app that people are using, and this is so next door to it. This is the sibling. This is like, not even a different login, barely a click out. And also managed to take kind of a piece of pie of communities that were probably not that active on X or former iteration of Twitter to begin with. Leah Feiger： 是的。我认为你说得完全正确。回到扎克伯格身上，他说这不是他们的首要任务，也不是他们的重大项目。正如你提到的，他们目前更专注于人工智能项目，但你无法过分强调其垂直整合的重要性。当然，人们已经在使用一个应用，而这个新应用就在隔壁。它是兄弟产品。甚至不需要不同的登录方式，几乎只需点击一下即可。而且它还成功地从那些在 X 或前身 Twitter 上本来就不太活跃的社区中分得了一杯羹。
Zoë Schiffer: Yeah. Zoë Schiffer： 是的。
Leah Feiger: Like you said, the Reddit of it all. I’m actually very fascinated by where Threads is now. When it gets sold to me in my algorithm, it’s a lot of people complaining about airport travel experiences— Leah Feiger： 就像你说的，Reddit 的那种感觉。我其实对 Threads 的现状非常着迷。当它通过算法推送到我面前时，上面有很多关于机场旅行体验的抱怨——
Zoë Schiffer: I was going to say customer service issues. Zoë Schiffer： 我正想说客户服务问题。
Leah Feiger: It’s a lot of customer service issues, which brings me back to Twitter 1.0. But like you said, all of these niche communities that there is something to be said about I am vaguely impressed at this product. Of course, too big to fail, but this product fills a niche. Leah Feiger： 确实有很多客户服务问题，这让我想起了 Twitter 1.0 时代。但正如你所说，所有这些小众社区的存在确实值得一提，我对这个产品印象还不错。当然，它“大到不能倒”，但这个产品确实填补了一个市场空白。
Zoë Schiffer: And I think you make a really good point, which is that it’s not like we saw finance Twitter or sports Twitter or politics Twitter migrate over to Threads, all contrary. It’s much more specific cultural conversations. Those conversations of course, take place on Threads, but overwhelmingly something different is happening over there. And I think that to me was what I was looking at, at the beginning. I kept thinking to myself, if we see finance Twitter mi… Zoë Schiffer： 我认为你提出了一个很好的观点，那就是我们并没有看到金融 Twitter、体育 Twitter 或政治 Twitter 迁移到 Threads，恰恰相反。它是更具体的文化对话。这些对话当然发生在 Threads 上，但那里发生的事情绝大多数是不同的。我认为这正是我最初所关注的。我一直在想，如果我们看到金融 Twitter 迁移……