Twitter, once hailed as the go-to platform for real-time conversations and breaking news, now finds itself facing a potential threat in the form of Threads, a new app gaining popularity in the social media landscape.
Threads, a product of Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has rapidly gained popularity and is now being hailed as a formidable rival to Elon Musk’s Twitter with over fifty million sign-ups within 24hrs of its lunch.
According to the product description on Apple Store, “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions, and creativity with the world.”
This suggests that Threads’ service will be offered for free, with no limitations on the number of posts visible to users unlike its counterpart, Twitter which recently limited the number of posts available to unverified users to 600 per day and verified users to 6,000 posts per day.
Prior to now, a lot of users have already expressed their dissatisfaction with how Twitter is being run especially since Elon Musk became the CEO of the company.
Musk has introduced a lot of features and modifications that were not well-received by users since the billionaire bought the platform in October 2022.
It is, however, safe to say that the last stroke that broke the camel’s back is the site’s introduction of temporary posts limit which according to Musk is “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.”
This move sparked widespread frustration among its user base and further weakened Twitter’s position and made users more receptive to exploring alternative platforms.
Bearing a striking resemblance to Twitter, Threads offer users a promising platform to participate in a manner similar to their usage of Twitter.
Hence if you are already on Twitter, navigating Threads will not be an issue. The design elements of the platform, ranging from the heart-shaped symbol for liking a post to the circular arrows symbolizing the repost feature, remain unchanged.
What sets it apart from Twitter is its seamless integration with Instagram which enables users to promptly establish a network comprising individuals they follow on Instagram.
Threads Haves and Have-nots
* According to Meta, messages posted on Threads will be limited to 500 characters.
* In a similar fashion to Twitter, users can engage in conversations by replying to, reposting, and quoting others’ posts within Threads.
* Additionally, users can also share posts from the app to their Instagram Stories, and vice versa, and can include links, photos, and videos of up to five minutes in length unlike Twitter which only allows 2 minutes 20 seconds of videos for unverified accounts.
* Like Facebook, Threads offers the option to categorize user accounts as either public or private.
* Also, Instagram accounts that have undergone the verification process are automatically recognized as verified accounts on Threads.
* Users have the ability to exercise control over who can “mention” them and apply filters to screen out responses to their posts that include certain words.
* In addition to the features of unfollowing, blocking, restricting, or reporting other profiles, Instagram users also have the option to employ these actions on Threads. This means when an account is blocked on Instagram, it is automatically blocked on Threads as well.
*Unlike Twitter’s dual-feed system comprising a recommendations feed and an option exclusively for viewing tweets from those you follow, Threads adopts a unified feed approach that combines updates from your followers with content it assumes you will like.
*The current version of Threads lacks desktop functionality and may not function optimally on your computer.
*Unlike Twitter, Threads is not yet optimized for features such as direct messaging, hashtags, and trending stories making it difficult to spot the latest viral trends.
How Do You Sign Up On Threads?
Users can easily sign up for Threads by using their Instagram accounts, retaining the same username, password, and account name. While their bio can be customized to be unique on Threads, the core credentials remain unchanged. Additionally, users have the option to import their Instagram follower list directly into the app, streamlining the onboarding process and making it exceptionally convenient to get started.
However, departing from Threads is not a straightforward process. Although users have the option to temporarily deactivate their profiles within the app’s settings section, the company explicitly states in its privacy policy that deleting one’s Instagram account is the only way to eliminate the Threads profile completely.
This has raised concerns among certain users who are worried about the extensive range of data that Threads, similar to Instagram, can gather about its users. The data collection includes but is not limited to location information, contact details, search history, browsing history, and more, as outlined by the Apple App Store.
According to Meta, Threads is now accessible in over 100 countries and supports more than 30 languages through Apple’s iOS and Android platforms.
