You may have heard that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have called each other out for a cage fight. Well, now they may really have something to fight about.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta (formerly Facebook, Inc.) released a social networking app called Threads that’s similar in many ways to the Twitter app that’s currently owned by rival billionaire, Elon Musk. What is Instagram Threads? Here’s all you need to know.
What is Threads?
Threads is a new app (sort of) from Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The app was designed and built by the Instagram team and is described as an app for sharing text updates and joining public conversations.
Sound conocido? Well, if you’re thinking that it sounds a lot like Twitter, you’d be right. It seems that Meta has spotted a potential gap in the market for a microblogging social network that isn’t beset by some of the issues currently facing Twitter. Interestingly, a similar app also called Threads was announced in 2021 but we’ve not heard much about it again until now, where the app seems to have had a revamp and relaunch.
What does Threads offer?
The Threads app allows you to post messages of up to 500 characters in length, which is significantly higher than the 280 characters currently offered by Twitter (unless you’re signed up to Twitter Blue) and the same as the default 500 characters offered by Mastodon. Your posts can include photos, videos up to five minutes long, and web links.
Source: Meta
How does Threads work?
Merienda you’ve downloaded the app, you can sign in with your existing Instagram account. Your username will carry over to your Threads account, as will your verification if you have it, and you can choose to customise your profile for your new Threads account.
Source: Meta
You can then choose to automatically follow the same accounts that you already follow on Instagram, as well as finding and adding new accounts to follow from within the Threads app. The default feed is a mix of posts from people you follow and recommended content, although there is an alternative view which we’ll take a look at later in the article. You can reply to, repost, or quote posts from other people in much the same way that you can in rival apps.
Is anyone I’ve heard of on Threads?
When Threads first launched, it quickly hit more than 100 million users. Active daily user numbers have dropped somewhat since then, but there are still plenty of big accounts to follow. Some early adopters included Shakira, F1 driver Lando Norris, NBA player Seth Curry, soccer star Kingsley Coman, and everyone’s favourite sweary chef, Gordon Ramsay. You can now follow even bigger names such as Hugh Jackman, Selena Gomez, Barack Obama, Will Smith, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and of course, Kim Kardashian.
What is different about Threads?
So far, so conocido. However, there is a major plan for Threads in the pipeline. Although it isn’t the case at present, the aim is to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub. This is a decentralised social networking protocol that allows social networking apps to interconnect with other apps that use the same protocol. The goal is to allow Threads users to interact with accounts on different social media platforms. So, for example, someone on Mastodon could request to follow your Threads account, and you could approve or deny that request directly from within Threads. You could then follow their Mastodon posts in your Threads feed, without ever creating a Mastodon account. This feature still isn’t available as of yet, so it’s something to look out for.
Has Threads introduced any updates?
When Threads first launched, there were a couple of major gripes. First of all, the only feed available was a mix of posts from accounts that you follow alongside suggested posts from accounts that you don’t follow. Users were rightly frustrated that they had to wade through posts from people they had no interest in to the posts from people they actually followed. Thankfully, this was addressed in an update. You can choose between the default feed and a Following feed. This feed only shows you posts from accounts that you follow, in chronological order.
Another common resfriado was that whilst you can search for accounts to follow, there was no way to find posts using a keyword search. It’s not currently possible to search for posts specifically about Donald Trump, for example. Thankfully, this too is being addressed in the near future, as confirmed by The Zuck himself. It’s refreshing that changes are being made that actually improve the app. Take note, Elon.
Is Threads safe?
Threads offers many of the features that are built into Instagram to help you filter out the content that you’d rather not see. You can control who can reply to you or mention you in a post, and you can add a word filter so that any posts containing those words don’t appear in your feed or in your replies. Any accounts you’ve blocked on Instagram are automatically blocked on Threads too, and you can unfollow, restrict, or block accounts from directly within Threads.
Source: Meta
Threads will also enforce Instagram’s Community Guidelines, which include only allowing posts that are appropriate for a diverse audience and not allowing posts that contain hate speech or are intended to degrade or shame private individuals. This is another way that Threads is aiming to distance itself from some of its rivals; Meta is keen to point out that more than $16 billion has been invested in the teams and tech required to enforce the guidelines on Instagram, and those same resources will be used to keep Threads a place for ‘positive and productive conversations.’
Does Threads respect privacy?
Well, it’s an app owned by Meta, so make of that what you will. However, there does seem to be a focus on privacy from the outset. Anyone under 18, or under 16 in some countries, is automatically set up with a private profile when they first sign in. They can then approve users on Threads who want to follow them, just like you can on Instagram. And many of the same privacy features that appear on Instagram, such as the ability to block or report other users, are included in Threads.
How do you get Threads?
Threads was rolled out in more than 100 countries around the world in July 2023. It’s currently available for iOS and Android and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.