Today Meta has dropped its long-awaited competitor to Twitter which Mark Zuckerburg has branded as the 'friendly' alternative. He celebrated the launch by writing his very own post on Threads saying how he hopes to see the community grow to over one billion in numbers. He also appeared to share his excitement on Twitter which he hasn't been active on for over a decade, where he shared the spider man meme to show the similarities between the two apps.
Threads has hit new heights by crossing the 10 million mark within the first couple of hours of launch, being fully accessible within 100 countries. The app has already attracted celebrities such as Jennifer Lopes, Shakira, Richarlison and Tom Brady and the number is set to grow.
The app opens up to a scrollable feed of short-form text limited to 500 characters a post, with the added ability to upload videos and photos. These posts will include content from accounts users follow, and creators suggested by the platform itself recommends from its algorithms.
Viewers can interact with one another by liking, commenting, reposting, quote reposting and sharing their Instagram stories. While most features look incredibly similar to Twitter, its user interface designs still resemble Instagram's button icons, such as the same heart, comment, and share, which are similarly placed.
Once you download the Threads app and sign in, if you currently own an Instagram account, you are prompted that your account must retain the same usernames, but you are allowed to have a different bio and link to all your profiles. Those verified Instagram users will also take their check marks to Threads. You can then follow all the accounts on Threads from your Instagram. You will also pre-follow accounts if the user has yet to jump to Threads, meaning when they do join, you will automatically follow them.
As well as the following accounts that you have blocked on Instagram will also be blocked within Threads. The ability to also limit interactions, replies and messages can also be managed by you and you alone, making it a safer environment.
Instagram's community guidelines will also be transferred across, making it easy for users to report one another violations to make it a safe place for all users.
There have been a lot of struggles since Elon Musk took over the social media giant, with users complaining earlier this week that introducing the 'rate limit' was a bad idea. This new concept restricted how many tweets you could see, interact with, or share within a day. Elon, however, said that if you had a subscription to Twitter, the amount you could see would be increased, angering many users.
Other instances, like the introduction of removing specific reporting systems to hate, meant that Twitter has become a place that does not protect all. Instead of reporting accounts for spreading hate or other hurtful content, you can only hide specific words or phrases.
With the bad press, Twitter has seen in recent weeks, it is no surprise people are making the jump. We are also seeing a lot of companies changing allegiance, but whether it will cause Twitter to die is something we may all have to wait and see.
If you have already made the jump to Threads, you can follow us by following the link here ➡️ Silver Lining Convergence
