New Social Media Alert: How Does Meta’s Threads Compare to Twitter?
The app is poised to be Twitter's rival.
(SPOT.ph) With Elon Musk's move to limit tweets seen by non-verified users to only 1,000 daily—already an increased number from the original 600—it seems Twitter is on a spiral. Arguably why a new contender is making waves online.
Mark Zuckerburg and team have made the timely decision to finally launch Meta’s Threads as some people make a hesitant step away from the original app. In the first four hours of its release, Threads surpassed five million downloads, the Meta chief said on his account on the new platform.
Post by @zuckView on Threads
Interestingly, Meta is branding Threads more closely to Instagram, calling itself “Instagram’s text-based conversation app.” Meta wrote in a blog post: “Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.”
From the get-go, Threads looks a lot like Twitter (which might exactly be the point), but how do they compare in terms of functionality? Let’s break it down.
Also read: Is Twitter Shutting Down? Its Users Brace For the Worst
Everything you need to know about Threads
Accounts
Integration to Threads has been made easy. You’ll only need an existing Instagram account to log in.
Threads will borrow same username and profile picture from the Instagram account it was logged in with. Since Threads is linked to Instagram, its users will also be able to directly import the list of people they follow on Instagram to the new app.
Accounts can be set to private or public, but Meta said everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in selected countries) will be defaulted a private profile upon sign up.
Posts
Although both platforms offer bite-sized content, Threads enables users to make longer posts at 500 characters compared to Twitter’s 250. You can attach photos and videos up to five minutes on Threads, but it can't be saved on your phone.
Like Instagram, Threads' feeds are a blend of content from people you follow and recommended users by the algorithm, but with no option to switch to a chronological-based feed.
Functions
Threads functions remain similar to Twitter for the most part, with a few noticeable changes. For one, there’s no direct messages or trending lists on the new platform.
Where Twitter wants its users to be exposed in its entirety with view counts, Threads takes inspiration from Instagram's option to hide the like count on posts in an attempt to create a less pressure-driven environment. The automatic translate option on Twitter is also missing on Threads.
But perhaps the biggest contrast between the rival apps is the place of hashtags on both platforms. Twitter is known to have revolutionized the way people engaged with social media by categorizing specific topics through the use of a hashtag. Threads wants none of that, however, as hashtags on the platform are currently unclickable.
Also read: Twitter Users, You’ll Lose Access to Two-Factor Authentication Unless You Pay
Data privacy
Threads collects twice the amount of personal data compared to Twitter, as seen on each of the app's privacy policies.
Threads has 14 data parameters, including health, financial information, purchases, search history, identifiers, and sensitive information. In comparision, Twitter has only seven parameters, including location, IDs, user-generated content, contact information, usage data, browsing history, and purchases.
Because of these data privacy concerns, Spokesperson for Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has said Threads won’t be rolled out in the European Union “at this point.”
Threads is now available for download on iOS and Android.