It’s not every day we get a new social media platform. Especially one that generates 30 million sign-ups in less than a week. Here’s everything you need to know about Threads.
Meta has just launched its newest social media platform, Threads, designed for the purpose of sharing text updates and joining public conversations. This new app is described as a Twitter and Instagram, with a TikTok-style edge when it comes to engagement. The app has been described by Meta as ‘Instagram’s text-based conversion app, where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.’
On this new platform, Instagram users are able to easily apply their existing usernames, making it easy for those who already have an Instagram account. You simply import your existing profile info and have the opportunity to follow the same people from Instagram during the sign-up process, whether they have a Threads account yet or not. Your Threads feed includes threads posted by people you follow as well as recommended content from new creators you haven’t discovered yet. Similar to Instagram, you can choose either to have a public or private profile.
Threads is similar to Twitter in terms of its features such as liking, reposting, and deciding who can reply to your threads, but can include up to 500 characters in comparison to Twitter’s 280 character threshold. Links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long can also be included in each thread, which can easily be shared to an Instagram story, or posted as a link to any other platform. Threads is portrayed by Meta as a platform in which to communicate your opinions, ideas, and creativity, while building up a ‘loyal following’ to which to share these ideas.
According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 30 million people had signed up a week before the launch of the platform on Thursday 6th July. The timing of the platform launch is described to be perfectly timed when millions are on the hunt for that golden Twitter replacement. This comes after Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform, imposing new restrictions and changes that have resulted in more and more people leaving the app.
In addition, Meta hopes that Threads will attract the people unwilling to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription. Zuckerberg says he hopes Threads will overtake Twitter’s 250 million monthly users. “It will take some time, but I think there should be a public conversion app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg said, “Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will. The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands, which is one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”
The initial response to the new platform in comparison to Twitter was that it feels less confrontational, less aggressive, and has a more civilised approach to conversations. Those who have benefitted from posting shorter pieces of text online, such as journalists, influencers and brands can potentially benefit from and make the most of this new platform.
The Wonder Co believes due to the lure of a new platform and the ease of sign-up through Instagram, Threads will have a much younger audience than Twitter, at least to start with.
Meta has allocated significant resources to ensure the success of Threads, meaning it is unlikely to disappear or struggle to gain traction.
While Threads is not the first social media app to rival Twitter, it may just be the most effective.