Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched Threads, meant to be a rival of Twitter, in 100 countries (including India) on the Apple and Google app stores.
Five million users already
He said that it logged five million sign-ups in its first four hours of operation.
The app has a lot going for it.
It resembles its competitor, has celebrity backers, allows lengthier posts- all which is helping it lure users from Twitter.
How to become a member
Download the app from Google Play or Apple App Store.
Thread users will need an Instagram account to log in.
People’s Instagram username and verification will carry over, with an option to customize their profile on Threads, the company said.
Features
Threads is tied deeply into Instagram.
Users can follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram.
What is called retweets in Twitter is called “reposts” and tweets are called “threads”.
Members can post ‘threads’ of up to 500 characters that can include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
They also get access to the service’s existing safety and user controls.
Similarities to Twitter
While Instagram is a photo-sharing or multimedia platform, Threads is a text-based app.
Users can unfollow, block, restrict or report a profile by tapping the three-dot menu.
They can filter out content with certain words in them.
The app will include, in users’ individual feeds, threads from people they follow and also content from new creators they haven’t discovered yet- making it an algorithmic-powered feed.
Potential
Meta said the app aims to “take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas”.
Threads will also be Meta’s first app that will be compatible with rival services, meaning users will be able to transfer their content to another service and interact with a broader community beyond Instagram.
Meta said it was planning to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, technology that also underpins Twitter’s other rival Mastodon.
This will let users of Threads take their accounts and followers to other ActivityPub-supported apps.
Poaching from Twitter
Threads has been launched at a pivotal moment.
Mike Proulx, research director at the analysis firm Forrester, said Threads had been launched at a time of “peak Twitter frustration” caused by a slew of changes brought about by owner Elon Musk.
For example, Twitter has started imposing limits on the number of tweets users can read on a daily basis.
This has led to an environment of chaos with users protesting the unwelcome changes.
A billion users?
Zuckerberg envisions threads as an app that can build a user base of a billion people.
He wrote, “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”
It’s worth noting that Twitter has a user base of more than 250 million, while Instagram reportedly has 2 billion users.
From the outset it looks achievable- Meta will need just a fourth of its Instagram users to join Threads to head to head against Twitter’s user base.
However, there are some who feel that Twitter has an edge over Threads- it is a news-oriented platform that Instagram, primarily a visual platform, may not be able to replace.
It looks like only time will tell how things will turn out in the end.
