If you’ve been anywhere near the internet and social media for the past couple of weeks, there’s no doubt you’ve probably heard a lot of buzz about something called “Threads”. Is this just yet another fleeting craze over a new social media platform, or does Meta’s latest addition to its line-up have something different to offer? We dive into all the details to get you up to speed (and threading in no time).
What is Instagram’s Threads app?
To answer this question, we need to do a little bit of digging into what’s been happening in the social media landscape over the past year. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (or X, as it’s recently been rebranded) back in October of 2022, Twitter users have been divided in their opinion of the app’s direction and changes. From removing the iconic blue checkmark verification from prominent users and offering it as a paid service known as Twitter Blue to introducing greatly increased character limits, and even offering paid ad revenue to users with paid verification, Twitter has seen quite the overhaul in the 9 months it’s been under new ownership.
Fast forward to July 2023, and Twitter ran into a bit of an issue when trying to combat bots – it was limiting how many tweets users could read per day. This ranged from in the hundreds for regular users (i.e. most of the user base) and thousands for verified users. Naturally, avid users were infuriated at their inability to use the app as freely as they wanted, including those who had paid actual money in the form of Twitter Blue subscriptions. Things were looking dire, to say the least.
This is where Meta and Mark Zuckerberg come in: having been involved in the creation of a Twitter-like platform for some time now, the company decided to take advantage of Twitter users’ grievances and pull the trigger to release Threads earlier than planned, on July 5th, 2023. Suddenly, amidst all the chaos, there it was – a Twitter clone from the largest social media giant on the planet.
Simply put, Threads is a social media platform built around the concept of sharing text updates and engaging in conversations with other users.
How does Threads compare to Twitter?
Threads and Twitter are, at their core, very similar apps. Of course, Threads is more simple due to being newer, and Twitter is set to change quite drastically in the future as it undergoes its aforementioned rebrand to X (the “everything app” according to owner Elon Musk). Let’s take a look at some of the current differences between the two.
Threads allows users to create text posts containing up to 500 characters. These posts can contain links, photos, and videos of up to 5 minutes in length. Twitter currently has a character limit of 280 for regular users, and 10,000 characters for users subscribed to Twitter Blue. These posts can also contain links, images, and videos – regular users can upload videos up to 140 seconds long, while paid subscribers can upload videos in 1080p and up to 2 hours in length.
Twitter is available as a mobile app for iOS and Android, and can also be accessed on computers via their desktop site (and on phones via the mobile site if you prefer that to the app). Threads is currently only available as an app for iOS and Android, with no access via a website. This means that Threads cannot be used on personal computers at present. This is somewhat unsurprising, given that Threads is heavily tied to a user’s Instagram account (it’s effectively an offshoot of one’s Instagram account), and Instagram isn’t exactly known for its PC-friendly functionality.
There are a few other features that Twitter has that Threads has yet to implement. One of these is, of course, paid subscriptions and ads. Other features include direct messaging functionality and live rooms where users can engage in discussions with others tuning in to listen. Threads might be unbothered by the lack of direct messaging, or DM functionality, due to it already being an option on Instagram.
How many users does Threads have?
It’s safe to say that Threads broke social media sign-up records by a huge margin following its release on July 5th. Within just a few hours of launch, Threads had managed to amass more than 10 million user sign-ups, with that figure crossing 30 million in 24 hours. As of right now, just a few weeks after launch, Threads boasts a whopping 118 million users – truly no small feat.
Of course, this rapid uptake of users and surge in popularity can be attributed to Threads piggybacking off the popularity of Instagram, which itself has been cemented as one of the world’s most-used social media platforms. Instagram users were prompted to create a Threads account and download the app, driving the number of users up at a never-before-seen rate. Other Twitter-likes such as Hive Social, Bluesky, and Mastodon didn’t have pre-existing userbases to leverage their success off of, making Threads’ performance somewhat of an enigma.
Is Threads available in Europe?
As people jumped on the Threads hype train, many hopeful users from Europe encountered a similar issue: the app was simply nowhere to be found on their app stores. Well, there’s a good reason for that – thanks to its rushed release, Threads was unable to obtain regulatory clarity from the European Commission regarding the service's data collection policies. This meant that, despite its availability in more than 100 countries, the entirety of the EU (i.e. 27 countries) does not have access to the Threads app. This doesn’t mean that users residing in the EU will never be able to download and create a Threads account of their very own – they might just have to be a little patient as data protection laws are correctly abided to.
How to set up a Threads account
Getting your very own Threads account set up is pretty easy. Just follow these simple steps:
1 - Download the Threads app from the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android. Thankfully, like most other social media platforms, Threads is totally free.
2 - Create your profile by logging in with your existing Instagram account. You can’t create an independent Threads account, so make sure you have an Instagram account with your desired username, as this carries over directly to Threads.
3 - Complete your profile information by following the prompts on the screen. You’ll also get to decide if you want your profile to be private or public.
4 - Follow other accounts either by choosing to follow the accounts you already follow on Instagram, or by manually seeking out and following accounts that interest you. Sometimes a fresh start is good!
5 - Accept the terms of service in order to be able to use the app. It’s best to brush up on the data collection and other policies that Threads (and Meta) have in place to be sure you’re happy with what they require.
How do you delete your Threads account?
This part can be a little tricky, so we’ll try and explain it as simply as possible. As mentioned before, your Threads account is intrinsically linked to your Instagram account – it cannot exist without it, as Threads doesn’t support independent sign-ups.
It’s possible to deactivate your Threads account by heading over to the settings menu and selecting the relevant option, but deleting your Threads account entirely requires you to delete your Instagram account, too. Yes – you cannot fully delete your Threads account without doing the same to the Instagram account it is linked to. This has raised eyebrows from more than a few users (with some swearing off signing up until a better solution has been found). Thankfully, Meta has said that they’re working on a potential way for users to delete their Threads account separately from their Instagram account, so we can only hope this will become an option in the future.
Conclusion
Threads may just be the latest in a sea of Twitter clones, but could it truly be the “Twitter killer”? While early stats show a great degree of promise compared to the options that came before, time will tell as both of these platforms mature in their functionality and user experience. Ultimately, it’s up to users to decide whether they’re Team Musk or Team Zuck (or both, or neither?) going forward.
