On July 6, Meta announced the launch of Threads, a new app developed by the team at Instagram. The app allows users to share text updates and participate in public conversations, positioning itself as a competitor to Twitter, the microblogging site owned by Elon Musk, which has been making waves in the social media community recently. The similarities and differences between Threads and Twitter are being widely discussed, along with the policies, terms of use, and the level of restrictions imposed on users.
Threads is designed as a social media platform for publishing short text updates of up to 500 characters, including photos and links. Users can also upload videos of up to 5 minutes in length. According to Meta, existing Instagram account holders can log in to Threads using their Instagram credentials and can easily share their Threads posts to their Instagram stories or share them as links on other platforms.
Posts from individuals and profiles that users follow on Instagram or Threads will appear on the home feed, similar to Instagram. Like Twitter, Threads also allows users to filter specific words from their feed and control who can mention them in posts or comments.
The app is available for free download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for iOS and Android users, respectively. Within hours of its launch, Threads had already surpassed 10 million sign-ins.
To use Threads, users must have an existing Instagram account since they are required to log in using their Instagram credentials. Their Instagram username will carry over to Threads, but users can personalize their Threads profiles. Users can seamlessly follow the same accounts they currently follow on Instagram, avoiding the need to start from scratch. When posting a Thread, users can choose who can see it, whether all Threads users or just their followers.
Users also have the ability to unfollow, report, block, or restrict accounts, and blocking an Instagram account will automatically block it on Threads as well. The app supports screen readers and AI-generated visual descriptions.
Meta has stated that they are working to make Threads compatible and integrated with other apps that use the ActivityPub protocol, such as WordPress and Mastodon. They are also planning to allow users to use Threads independently, regardless of whether they have an Instagram account.
In the midst of Twitter’s turmoil with advertisers, users, and its owner, this is an opportune time for the launch of the Threads app. While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk may not face off in a cage fight, their rivalry in the tech world continues. The built-in integration with Instagram is likely to quickly gather a strong user base. Despite Musk increasing Twitter’s daily post limit, there is a risk of losing subscribers and advertisers, as some have already begun pulling out since his takeover in November 2022.
