IS THREADS REALLY THE NEXT TWITTER?
What is Threads you may be asking? Well, if you haven’t heard already, Threads is what Meta believes may just be the “Twitter Killer.” Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads launched on Thursday the 6th of July 2023 and within hours of launching, apparently already has over 30 million users – at least according to Zuckerberg. The social media space has certainly been heating up since business billionaire Elon Musk bought and took over Twitter in October 2022, with Donald Trump also pushing his Twitter-equivalent Truth Social, which was launched in February 2022 and currently boasts approximately 1.7 million users in the USA. In all fairness, there is no shortage of social media equivalents to Twitter on the App-market boasting various similarities to the original App.
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, these have been popping up more and more as some users are looking for platforms that don’t require users to adhere to twitter’s new user policies, most recently including limitations in daily-Tweet access excepting for paying users. Twitter users were also unhappy about the subscription service as a pre-requisite for scoring the previously sought-after verifiable blue tick. As this can now be bought, the previous authenticity, influence and authority symbolised by this tick now no longer carries the same weight. Despite this, new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino doesn’t seem rattled, as although Twitter is “often intimidated but it’s community can never be duplicated.”
Here are some of the key areas where Threads and Twitter overlap – both allow the posting of text, links, photos and videos. Both also allow for the deleting of posts. That’s where their similarities end. Some of the key differentiators include post length – Threads allows users 500 characters whereas Twitter only allows non-paying users 280 characters. Other differences also include the video length limits – Threads allows for a five minute maximum but Twitter only allows non-verified (users missing the blue tick) two minutes twenty seconds. Threads doesn’t support instant messaging, trending stories of hash tags, but Twitter who is known for these – still does. One of the biggest concerns voiced by potential users is the fact that it isn’t possible to a Threads account without deleting the linked Instagram profile. That being said, Meta has assured users that Threads accounts can be deactivated at any time, and even if they are – this will not deactivate the corresponding Instagram account.
Both billionaires have made remarks regarding their ‘friendly competition’ leading up to the release of Threads. With Musk blatantly advocating that “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.” Whereas Zuckerberg believes that Musk may have missed a trick, one that they can hopefully perform through the creation of a space where freedom of speech still applies – let’s see how a little healthy competition works for them both.