It’s been almost a week since the launch of Instagram Threads, Meta’s new social network that competes directly with Elon Musk’s Twitter. And this is not the first time that Instagram has made a kind of \u201cclone\u201d of other social networks, right? Keep in mind that Stories and Reels were created to reproduce Snapchat and TikTok features respectively.<\/p>\n
Threads arrive amidst a moment of crisis in Twitter’s relationship with its users, as the company has been limiting some features, especially for those who are using the free version. The company justifies these actions in an attempt to stop massive data collection by referencing AI companies. In early July Elon Musk himself tweeted some of these \u201ctemporary\u201d limitations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fact is user frustrations can lead them to look for alternatives, opening doors for Mastodon, Bluesky, and now, for the “Meta” version of this format, named Threads.<\/p>\n To begin with, when testing Threads, I can say that I felt quite familiar. That’s because its layout and main features are basically identical to those of its competitor, Twitter. <\/p>\n Of course, with different feature buttons \u201ctexts\u201d. For example: \u201cNew thread\u201d instead of \u201cTweet\u201d, to include a new post, as well as \u201cRepost\u201d in place of \u201cRetweet\u201d. But, in general, it\u2019s pretty much the same.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also easy to share your \u201cThread\u201d in Instagram Stories, due to the integration of the two networks, which is not big news, since Twitter users were already able to share their Tweets on Instagram.<\/p>\n One thing that jumped out at me right away is just how quickly people adapt to a familiar interface. There\u2019s some early awkwardness, sure, but then you realize you\u2019re basically using Twitter with a slightly different coat of paint. People have started to invent their own in-jokes, hashtags, and even etiquette rules\u2014already, there\u2019s a kind of \u201cThreads culture\u201d forming, which honestly is wild this soon after a launch. It\u2019s got that slightly chaotic, anything-goes energy that\u2019s pretty common to social platforms in their first weeks. Hard to say yet if that energy sticks around, but for now, everybody seems entertained just by the novelty of it all.<\/p>\n Another small but interesting detail: Threads is really leaning into its connection with Instagram, encouraging you to share Threads content back onto your Instagram Stories. It feels a little like they\u2019re trying to keep you inside Meta\u2019s walls as much as possible\u2014quite the opposite of the decentralized philosophy they\u2019re touting for the future. In real use, though, it makes things very convenient; one tap and your post does the rounds across both apps. I\u2019m curious if that seamlessness will help more creators catch on, or if people will start getting tired of seeing the same recycled content in both places. Guess we\u2019ll have to wait and see.<\/p>\n Related to features, to be honest, I don\u2019t think there are many differences between them. But one thing that Instagram highlighted as an important difference is that Threads is a decentralized social media. <\/p>\n Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, explained in this NYT podcast<\/a> that Thread as well as Mastodon<\/a>, is built on ActivityPub, an open protocol. That means eventually, in the future, it will be possible for different social networks built on ActivityPub to work with each other, and could also allow users to export their contacts to another platform, giving more autonomy to content creators.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a great philosophy change, but we\u2019ll need to wait to see how it\u2019ll work.<\/p>\n Your Threads profile is created from your Instagram credentials. Starting the procedure, there is an option to import your Instagram profile information and also automatically follow your entire network. This means as soon as the user chooses this option, a connection invitation is automatically sent to all their contacts, which I believe is a strong benefit to content creators that won\u2019t need to start their positioning from zero.<\/p>\n On the other hand, as a mere user, this could be inconvenient. Considering that you may have a different purpose for Threads and want to make different connections there, maybe you feel a certain discomfort in ignoring the invitations and could even feel obliged to follow them back.<\/p>\n And what if I want to delete my Threads profile? Well, that\u2019s something that has irritated some users. As it is integrated with Instagram, the account becomes combined, so to delete Threads, you\u2019ll need to delete both. (OMG!) But don’t worry! You can still deactivate your Threads profile and hide it, keeping your profile active on Instagram.<\/p>\n Zuck\u2019s new social network has already hit 100 million users according to his Thread<\/a>. In only the first 16 hours, Instagram\u2019s new app was downloaded more than 30 million times.<\/p>\n Scrolling through the timeline for the first time, most of the threads available to me were from influencers and brands that I used to follow on Instagram. Maybe because I’ve chosen not to automatically follow my Instagram contacts, having a very small network in the beginning, there is a strong possibility they used Instagram data to understand what could be relevant to me. <\/p>\n But, after five days of accepting invitations, and having some of mine accepted, I can see threads from these people all the time.<\/p>\nTwitter x Threads: similarities and differences<\/h2>\n
How does Threads work?<\/h2>\n
What are the opportunities for brands on Threads?<\/h2>\n