What Is Threads, Meta’s Rival to Twitter?

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Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta has launched a new app called Threads that appears to be a direct rival to Twitter. What exactly is this new social media platform and is it worth trying out? Here’s everything we know so far.

What is Threads?

Threads is a text-based app that is live and available in more than 100 countries including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. The app is billed as the text version of Meta’s photo-sharing platform Instagram. Threads provides “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations,” and seems to be focusing primarily on being an alternative to Twitter rather than developing a new unique platform.

What makes Threads different from Twitter?

Threads’ microblogging experience is very similar to Twitter. Users can repost, reply to or quote a thread, for example, and can see the number of likes and replies that a post has received. The platform has some simple differences from Twitter, such as a 500-character limit for posts, allowing you to share as many as 10 photos in a single post, and not giving you the ability to use hashtags.

Although the platforms are similar in many ways, Threads seems to be more focused on personal connection within a community than Twitter, which is very focused on public discourse. The new app is designed to help you connect with your close friends and family, and it doesn’t have the same public-facing features as Twitter. The app doesn’t allow you to follow strangers like Twitter does, and it gives you more control over who can see your posts.

Do I need to create a new account to use Threads?

For now, only Instagram users can create Threads accounts. If you want to access Threads, you will have to sign up for Instagram first. This means that your Threads and Instagram accounts are linked, and you can’t delete either account without deleting the other. If you’re unsure whether you want to use Threads or not, it might be worth making a burner Instagram account to try it out before linking it to your main account.

How many people are using the new platform?

Despite some early glitches, 30 million people had signed up before noon on Thursday. The most recent estimates show that the brand new Threads app most likely already has close to 110 million users, nearly half as many as Twitter.

Is Meta still trying to create the metaverse?

Between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta has been one of the leading companies in technology and social networking for years. They’ve created countless new features and products, some of which have been more successful than others.
If you keep up to date with tech news, you might be aware of Meta’s involvement with the metaverse over the last few years, but are they still working on it? According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Threads and other new developments don’t mean that Meta is moving away from its primary focus, the Metaverse. It’ll be interesting to see where the company continues to drive that technology in the future.