What Is Threads?

Meta’s New Social Media Platform Set to Dethrone Twitter

If you already thought it was a bit much Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta owning Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, you won’t be pleased to hear he also owns Twitter now!

Well, not really, but sort of.

Today, Thursday, July 6th, all sites for Meta’s new Threads service went live in 100 countries including the UK and the US, and the company is already seeing massive engagement.

In fact, there were 5 million registered users just four hours after the app went live, according to ‘Zuck’s account.

However, other users in the EU will have to wait a while to get their hands on the social media app, due to stricter security measures that need navigating.

The download link for the app went live on Monday, July 3rd, amidst the latest in a string of mistakes by Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk.

The CEO has been facing criticism from Twitter users since taking over the platform and over the weekend implemented a new measure restricting the number of tweets users can view.

Users without Twitter Blue (i.e. non paying accounts) are now limited to 600 tweets a day, a move that has caused vast criticism from its user base.

For that reason alone, it seems even more likely that users will reject Twitter in favor of this new offering.

What Does Threads Do?

Similar to its rival, Meta Threads is a microblogging app that allows a user to comment and interact with other content on the platform.

However, as yet, there is no way to send direct messages to each other, but we may see this develop in the future.

Better than Twitter though, this new service has the benefit of being part of Zuckeberg’s Meta network.

As with linking your Instagram profile to Facebook, Threads will be linked to your Insta account in an even more personal way.

Branded as ‘an Instagram app’, people can retain their unique username and even their followers when connecting the two apps together.

And with Instagram possessing a staggering 2.3 billion active users a month, there is every chance Twitter will see a dramatic fall in use in the coming weeks.

Additionally, Twitter currently only has 330 million users active a month, so it is entirely possible that the platform will be entirely eclipsed by Threads.

Being one of many Meta platforms will certainly help Threads dominate the market in a space other Twitter rival apps such as Blue Sky and Mastodon have failed.

Importantly, on the sign-up page for the new app, Threads teases at joining the Fediverse, a new type of social network where users can interact over multiple sites at once.

Even apps not owned by the Meta Company, giving Mastodon as an example.

Branching into a decentralized social media network like this would give users more control over their content, as well as peace of mind when it comes to data protection. 

This is just one of many new features we can hope to see develop on this platform in the next few months.

Clearly, the success of this new venture may depend on how much it can improve on what Musk has created.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Follow Pictory on Threads and on our website to stay up to date with all the latest tech news!

And if you are thinking of joining Threads check out our posts on How To Set Up A Threads Account and 10 Top Tips To Increase Your Threads Engagement!