Threads: The New Social Media Platform from Instagram

Since being launched on July 5th, Threads has been the topic of discussion for many businesses across the world. As the newest platform on the block, the app has amassed over 100 million followers in just five days and even surpassed Pokémon Go for the quickest amount of downloads of any app in the app store.

But is the hype all worth it? Let’s delve into what Threads is, what purpose it serves and how it compares to other (very similar) platforms…

So What Is Threads?

You’ve probably heard about Threads already but if you haven’t, let’s give you the lowdown. Threads is a new social media platform launched by the Instagram team for “sharing text updates and joining public conversations.” 

The app is free to download in the app store and, according to Meta, is designed to be a space that “takes what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.”

Threads became the most quickly downloaded app ever with 30 million downloads within its first 24 hours of launching. The previous record held by ChatGPT with their one million downloads over the space of five days – a huge difference!

The Key Features

Seamless Integration With Existing Instagram Accounts

One of the features which users enjoyed most when setting up their Threads account was how easy it was. Setting up an account is as easy as logging in with your existing Instagram account. You’re then given the option to follow the same accounts as you do on Instagram. This takes away the frustration of having to “start fresh” and means that with just one tap, you can connect with the people you want to follow the most. 

It also means that you don’t have to start up your follower base from scratch and, in a world that widely focuses on how many followers people have, erases the worry that people might have about building up an entirely new set of followers.

Safety and Privacy Controls

Meta take privacy and online safety seriously, and Threads is no exception. Since 2016, over $16 billion has been invested into Instagram to ensure protection for its users and these measures have extended to cover Threads too.

Much like Instagram, users have the choice of whether they have a public or private Threads account. They can also choose who they want to be able to interact with their threads, dictating who they can and can’t have conversations with online.

What Makes Threads Different from Twitter?

Everybody’s thinking it. Elon’s probably thinking it. With the Twitter changes that have come since Musk’s takeover last year, many users have been left frustrated and searching for alternatives. Threads launched without many key features including text based search, so it seems it was released in anticipation of Twitter users calling it a day…

While the two apps are undoubtedly competitors, there are a few things that set them apart.

The Lack of a ‘Following’ Feed

One of the biggest differences which has left many Threads users frustrated is the lack of a ‘following’ feed, meaning that users are currently being shown a mix of threads on their homepage, some from people they do follow but also a lot from celebrities and influencers that they may have absolutely no interest in. This lack of personalisation could really impact the growth of Threads, as who wants to go onto a social media platform and see a bunch of posts from people they don’t recognise?

There’s hope yet though, as Mosseri and Zuckerberg have responded to users’ demands stating that new features are on the way – including an edit feature, the ability to switch between accounts without logging out, and an auto-translate function.

Word Counts

Tweets are currently limited to 280 characters for unverified users, whereas Threads has almost double the cap at 500. It’s hard to say whether this is a pro or a con as everyone’s opinions on this will differ. However, one of the positives of keeping a word limit smaller is that, in a world of shorter attention spans, content is more easily digestible and users will be more likely to spend a longer amount of time scrolling through their feed. 

Threads having a bigger allowance has put the concern in some users’ minds about whether the platform will be taken over by political content like Twitter has, but it’s too early to say right now what shape the content on the platform will take.

No ‘Trending’ Tab

The most utilised feature on Twitter is its ‘Trending’ tab which allows users to see hashtags and tweets relevant to trending topics on the app.

Right now, Threads doesn’t have any kind of feature to rival this, but it doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The only way to see updates is to do a good, old-fashioned scroll through the app, so we hope they introduce a similar feature sooner rather than later!

Is the Threads Hype Over?

According to data from software company Sensor Tower, Threads’ number of daily active users went down about 20% from Saturday, and time spent on the platform dropped 50%. Time spent on the new app has declined massively from 6 minutes from its peak of 21 minutes between July 7th and July 14th.

One of the potential reasons for this is that people typically don’t float between different social media platforms, they pick their favourites and stick to them. So until Meta releases some new features to differentiate Threads from competitors, it’s likely that we’ll see engagement on the app continue to decline.

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