Threads: Instagram launches app to rival Twitter
Posted By: Sophia Andrew
Posted On: July 6, 2023
Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, said that their new app called Threads wants to be better than Twitter.
People who are unhappy with recent changes on Twitter might be interested in using Threads, according to experts.
Threads is a new app that lets you share messages up to 500 characters long, and it has similar features to Twitter.
Mr Zuckerberg said that over 10 million people signed up for the app in the first seven hours. He also mentioned that being friendly on the platform is vital for its success.
Elon Musk, the head of Twitter, disagreed and said, “It’s better to be criticized by strangers on Twitter than to pretend to be happy on Instagram.”
When asked if Threads will be bigger than Twitter, Mr. Zuckerberg said it might take time but he believes there should be a public conversation app with more than 1 billion people using it. He also noted that Twitter had the chance to do this but didn’t succeed. He hopes Threads will do better.
Some of Threads’ competitors are worried about how much data the app might collect. As stated on the Apple App Store, this could include personal information like health, financial, and browsing data.
Threads is available for download in more than 100 countries, including the UK, but it’s not yet available in the European Union due to regulatory concerns.
How does Threads work?
On Threads, you can share posts between Instagram and Threads. You can include links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long.
Some people who tried using Threads early had trouble uploading images, which might be because the app is still new and has some issues to work out.
On Threads, you see a feed of posts from the people you follow, and there’s also recommended content for you to discover.
You have control over who can mention you and you can filter out replies to your posts that have specific words.
You can unfollow, block, restrict, or report other users on Threads. If you block someone on Instagram, they will also be blocked on Threads.
While the company emphasizes the connection to Instagram, many people compare Threads to Twitter and some investors even call it a “Twitter killer”. Recently, Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk limited the number of tweets users could see on his platform, trying to get more people to sign up for Twitter Blue, their paid service. Twitter also announced that TweetDeck, a popular user dashboard, will soon require payment to access.
Since Elon Musk became more involved with Twitter, some users have expressed their unhappiness with the platform and his leadership. They mention his erratic behavior and political views.
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, jokingly talked about a cage fight between them. Mark Zuckerberg’s early posts on Threads mentioned his interest in mixed martial arts.
Threads is available in the UK, but it’s not yet available in the European Union because of uncertain rules, especially related to the EU’s Digital Markets Act. The Act sets rules for how big companies like Meta can share data between their platforms, and this sharing of data between Threads and Instagram is part of the concern.
Meta says they are looking into launching Threads in the EU. They believe that protecting privacy is very important for their business.
Features of Threads app
Threads is a new app that works a lot like Twitter. You can write posts with up to 500 characters, just like tweets. You can also share photos and videos that are up to 5 minutes long. It’s similar to Instagram, but with text posts.
The app looks simple and clean. The main page shows your feed of posts. Each post has buttons to like, comment, repost, and share. The app also has a dark theme, which some people like. Overall, it looks a lot like Twitter.
People are not sure what to call the posts on Threads. Some call them “threads,” while others still call them “tweets” because they are so similar. Maybe they’ll end up being called “threets.”
If you already use Instagram, you can log in to Threads with your Instagram account and see the same people you follow on both apps. Threads also has a website where you can use it on your computer.
Like Instagram, the main page on Threads shows posts from people you follow and also suggests other content for you to see. It also has privacy settings similar to Instagram, so you can control who can reply to your posts and filter out certain replies.
At first, Threads won’t have decentralized features, but they plan to add them later. They want Threads to be compatible with an open social networking protocol so that people can connect with each other no matter what app they use.
Threads is available in more than 100 countries, like India, the US, the UK, and Australia. However, it’s not available in the European Union yet, possibly because of a law that will go into effect next year.
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