🔴 The lowdown on Twitter vs. Threads, a new music instrument, and what’s making waves

Let's do a quick round-up of where Twitter and Threads are currently at: 

• Subscribers of Twitter Blue who have had more than five million monthly tweet impressions for the last three months are eligible to join this program. The payouts will be cumulative from the month of February onward. Creators have already started to receive these payouts. However, a clear CPM is yet to be disclosed. 

• Meanwhile, Meta's Threads is witnessing a drop in the time users are spending on the app.  While the app was recently the fastest-growing app in history, it has experienced a drop in usage time. On July 14, Threads saw 23.6 million daily active users. In contrast, the app had 49 million users on July 7. In terms of time spent, in the U.S., usage fell from 21 minutes per day to over six minutes. 

  • The platform also saw an uptick in spam attacks. 

• Although paid promotion has not reached Threads yet, Axios reported that Instagram is planning to share its branded content tools with Threads.  

• Karissa Bell of Endgadget puts things into perspective by detailing the different reasons Threads might currently be “Twitter’s biggest threat.” 

• On a related note, Spill is a new social media app created by former Twitter employees. It launched in mid-June and is gaining popularity, especially among creators of color, shares BlkPodNews.

The Chorda allows users to access instruments including guitar, drums, and piano to create music. 

• The built-in sounds and controls make Chorda sound a lot like the analog version of the instrument. 

• While the sound design capabilities are limited, there’s an app that allows users to play around with the settings of the sound engine itself. 

• Non-musicians can also use the Chorda to automatically play chords, letting them play along. 

• Here’s a video sharing the capabilities and experience of using the Chorda. Interested folks can buy Chorda on Kickstarter for $200.

• On July 27, the Signal Awards are hosting a panel on The State of Podcasting. The panel welcomes Maurice Cherry, Joni Deutsch, and Deondric Royster.

• On August 2, Music Ally SI:X is hosting a free webinar for audio creators on creating the perfect pitch. 

• On October 12, the winners of the Independent Podcast Awards will be announced. The nominations are set to be announced in early September.