7 Things You Need To Know About Instagram’s New “Threads App”

Early last month, a new app based on conversations that’s closely identical to twitter, was launched by the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram – Meta.

Backed by the CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg, the Threads app was unveiled after many months of speculation and secrecy. Though many from the tech world predict that Threads is very likely to completely replace Elon Musk owned Twitter, this development is only a few days old and only time can tell.

While the launch of Threads does ramp up competition in the social media space on one hand, it also amplifies the on-going and highly intense rivalry between Zuckerberg and Musk on the other. After all, since around 2016, the two tech billionaire moguls have had constant clashes on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and rockets. And it doesn’t end there. Very recently, they have both threatened to take their ‘billionaire brawl’ to the cage.

Soon after Musk acquired Twitter for US $44 billion (about INR 3.50 Lakh Crores) in October last year, the app has seen several changes that are considered unpopular, and have unsettled many if not most of its users. This includes tinkering with the algorithm, revamping its verification program, and even putting a limit on the number of tweets that can be read.

Threads, which racked up 10 million in just seven hours of its launch (that’s right, just 7), poses a serious threat to Twitter, which was launched in mid-2006, and took a little over 2 years to reach the same milestone!

Here’s what you may want to know about Threads, the latest social media platform that rivals Twitter.

1) What is Threads?
2) How do I sign up for Threads?
3) How many characters are permitted to be written on Threads?
4) What’s the difference between Threads and Twitter?
5) Can Threads completely replace Twitter?
6) When will Threads go for monetization?
7) Can you delete Threads account?

1) What is Threads?

Launched by Meta on 05 July 2023, Threads is an app that rivals the Twitter app. The Zuckerberg-backed platform’s primary focus is on sharing short snippets of text on conversation-based platform which is free for users. Even though it is an online hub that’s linked to Instagram, it is a standalone app and requires an Instagram account to sign up.

“The vision for Threads”, according to Zuckerberg, “is to create an option and friendly public space for conversation”. He adds: “We hope to take what Instagram does best and create a new experience around text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind.”

2) How do I sign up for Threads?

Signing up is simple. Having said, despite Threads being a completely standalone app, you need to have an Instagram account to login. Unlike Instagram, you cannot access the new service via Threads.Net, the website of Threads, where you can only find a QR code that redirects you to the App Store.

Once you download the Threads app, it will ask you to log in with your Instagram credentials, or create an account if you don’t already have one. The link to Instagram from Threads is a benefit in comparison to Twitter, as it allows your settings to sync up directly to the new platform.

And here’s the important benefit: Thanks to the integration to Instagram from your Threads account, you don’t have to build your following from scratch! This means it gives you the option to carry over your followers and following automatically, therefore making it easy to find the accounts of your friends and favorites. That’s not all: even your blocked accounts on Instagram will get carried over!

3) How many characters are permitted to be written on Threads?

Users of Threads can share photos and videos up to five minutes long in addition to writing up to 500 characters (as opposed to the 280 characters available to those who use Twitter without the Blue Tick). Though not in the European Union currently, the app is available in over 100 countries and has plans to expand further.

4) What’s the difference between Threads and Twitter?

Though Threads has been deemed by many social media techies as ‘closely similar’ to Twitter, there are several differences between the two platforms.

Mobile Only

First things first: Threads is a mobile-only platform. What’s important to note however, is that as a Threads user, you can only read posts on Threads.net website, but you cannot post or interact. On the other hand, Twitter is accessible on the Twitter app and via desktop.

Followers & Following

To start with, a very important difference is that you can transfer your Instagram followers and the accounts you follow to Threads. It also allows you to upload posts to Instagram Stories.

Posts

Another key difference between Threads and Twitter, is the order in which your posts are listed in users’ feeds. Just like Facebook and Instagram, the timelines of Threads are based purely on algorithm, meaning that unlike Twitter timelines, your posts will not show in reverse chronological order to show the most recent posts.

Trending

There’s no Trending section on Threads, which means the posts you are offered on your feed are completely based on Meta’s algorithm.

Posts’ Consumption

Threads doesn’t limit the amount of posts you can consume daily. How does it matter? Well, a few days before Threads was launched, Twitter imposed a limitation of consuming up to 600 posts a day, per user, and those who pay a monthly subscription fee can consume nine times more at 6,000 posts a day.

Hashtags

A popular feature, the hashtags, which is available not only on Twitter but also Facebook and Instagram, is not available on Threads. The platform also does not allow you to search for specific content (as of now), which you can with others.

Ads

Twitter has ads but Threads does not – at least as of now, as Zuckerberg himself recently mentioned in a reply post to one user that only time will tell before monetization is implemented.

5) Can Threads completely replace Twitter?

There are many who consider Threads to be a “Twitter Killer”. However it remains unknown, at least as of now, whether the latest app by Mark Zuckerberg can or will replace the Elon Musk-owned app completely. Having said, Zuckerberg is known for his ruthless competitiveness, and is ‘popular’ for having tapped rival apps’ features in the past.

Case in point: In 2020, Meta launched a feature on Instagram called Reels, which is widely known to be its own version of TikTok. Reels has become hugely popular ever since, as allows its users to create and scroll through short-form videos within its own feed on the app. It became so popular, that it made even YouTube come up with a new feature called Shorts.

6) When will Threads go for monetization?

As regards monetization of Threads, Zuckerberg wrote: “Our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point”.

7) Can you delete Threads account?

Going by the app’s Privacy Policy, a downside to the integration of Instagram to Threads, is that you cannot delete your Threads accounts without completely deleting your Instagram account.

Having said, you can deactivate your Threads account if you choose, which then leads to hiding of your profile and the content uploaded. Additionally, you can set your privacy settings to ‘Private’ and delete your posts on Threads. In other words, your Threads account can never disappear permanently.

As expected, this policy prompted a backlash from users, which prompted Instagram head Adam Mosseri to address the issue in one of his Threads post, where he said “Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now it’s just one account, but we’re looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately”.

Conclusion

Zuckerberg also has a plan to intertwine Threads into what is called Fediverse, which is a social network of different servers that are operated by third parties, are all inter-connected, and can communicate with each other. For this, Mark plans to use a protocol called ActivityPub, which will allow users to interact with others on different servers that support the same plan.

In other words, Instagram’s real intention is to make it easier for Threads’ technology to operate seamlessly with other platforms, which can be too good a feature for creators and influencers to ignore. Why? Well, they do not have to start from scratch on each new app that comes up in the future, which is a big deal!