Meta has done it again. Yes, the Social Metaverse Company, Meta, the parent company for the three most popular social media platforms—WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook—has launched a fourth social media app called Threads.
Threads is a text-centric social media platform intended to live adjacent to the photo and video-centric social media platform, Instagram. It is seen as the Twitter for Instagram by its users, thereby making it a direct competitor of Twitter.
Since the $44 billion takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, Twitter has had a downward spiral of its users, especially with the latest monetisation of the blue tick. Taking advantage of this, Mark Zuckerberg and his Instagram team developed Threads with the intention of making it an alternative to Twitter. Well, it is on its way to doing that, because in the first five days of its launch, the app recorded over 100 million users. It was launched on July 6, 2023.
Similarities Between Threads and Twitter
Let us take a look at some of the similarities between Threads and Twitter.
- Threads has a layout and structure similar to Twitter.
- The posts on Threads including consecutive connected group of posts are called threads just like a group of consecutive and connected tweets on Twitter are known as threads.
- Both Twitter and Threads allows for short messaging and both apps also allow the sharing of multimedia (pictures and videos).
- They are both text-based platforms mainly developed to share text content.
- And you can follow and unfollow friends and celebrities.
Differences Between Threads and Twitter
- Although both allow for short messaging, the number of characters differ. For threads it is 500 characters per thread and 250 characters per tweet for Twitter.
- On video length, while Twitter allows 2 minutes 20 seconds for non-verified users, and 10 minutes for verified users, Instagram Threads allows a video upload up to 5 minutes. Then there is the user friendliness.
- Twitter is open to anyone to sign up, but Threads is only available to Instagram users. Without an Instagram account, you can’t thread.
- For Twitter, communication is quick and concise, but with Threads, there are options like location sharing, disappearing mode, close friends’ mode and so on.
- Twitter has provision for hashtags and adverts, while Threads is yet to make provision for adverts and hashtags.
- To be verified on Twitter, you will have to pay, but on Threads, you are automatically verified if your Instagram account is verified.
- On Threads, you can only deactivate your account. In order to delete it, you will have to delete your Instagram account, but that is not the case with Twitter.
Is Threads Better Than Twitter?
Threads is fairly new and has already made its numbers when it comes to subscribers and downloads. It still has a long way to go as Twitter has been at this longer and has features like trending topics, Space that allows users to have a live audio conversation that anyone can join, a direct chart option, breaking news and politics.
Besides, both platforms can be used by brand owners and marketers for business adverts and just like other social platforms, they provide real time communication between people and communities world-wide.
Conclusion
Threads has come to stay. With the success of other Meta social apps—Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook—there is no doubt that Meta’s Threads will grow and become a strong competitor to Twitter. The number of downloads and subscribers for Threads is growing rapidly in less than a month. I have started using the app and I feel it is more personal than Twitter. According to Mark Zuckerberg, “The vision for Threads is to create an open and friendly public space for conversations.”
There you have it—Threads is a more personal and fun way to communicate with friends, celebrities and the world. Now let us have some fun, make new friends and thread carefully.