Threads vs. Twitter: What’s the Difference?
The Instagram-linked app joins the crowded microblogging fray
The Instagram-linked app joins the crowded microblogging fray
If you’re wondering what it’s like to use the new Threads app, just close your eyes and picture Twitter but with a lot less Elon Musk—and that’s exactly the point.
Meta—owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp—on Wednesday launched its latest service, called Threads. While linked to Instagram (you even need an Instagram account to sign up for Threads), the new app’s primary focus is sharing short snippets of text. Users can post up to 500 characters or share videos up to five minutes long.
Welcome to Mark Zuckerberg’s new Metaverse. No virtual-reality spectacles or legless 3-D avatars here. Just good ol’ fashioned words…in a good ol’ fashioned social-media feed…on your good ol’ fashioned smartphone.
“There’s a hunger for something new,” Connor Hayes, Meta’s vice president of product, said in an interview. He added that public figures and creators have specifically been looking for an alternative to Twitter that “feels more productive and positive.”
Since Musk took over Twitter in October, the company has had numerous technical issues, changed its blue-check-mark verification policies and faced criticism from users and advertisers for how it moderates content. This past weekend, Musk limited how many posts users could see, saying he wants to combat “extreme levels of data scraping.”
That’s left a potential opening for competitors. There’s Mastodon, Bluesky, Spill. Is Threads any better than those? Are there privacy concerns—as with other Meta apps? Is it easy to set up and close a Threads account? Can Twitter actually be beaten?
Here are our answers and first impressions after using the app for the past day.
Threads is Meta’s latest social-media app, and this one directly takes on Twitter with short missives you can share with followers. It lets you post text, photos, links and videos.
Thanks to some serious Twitter copying and pasting, Threads is simple to use. Download the iOS or Android app and you’ll be prompted to log in with your Instagram account and fill out your Threads profile. You can choose to keep following the same people you follow on Instagram or pick just some of them—or none at all.
The Home tab includes a feed of posts. Tap the button with an abstract-looking paper and pen to compose a new Thread, and tap the paper clip icon to add a photo or video. You can mention other people by using the @ symbol in front of their usernames and “repost.”
The app is available in more than 100 countries, though not in the European Union.
You can’t join Threads without an Instagram account, but the new service operates as its own app. Do we really need another app on our phones? Nope, but here we are.
If you really don’t want to download another app, you can access the service from the Threads.net website, similar to how you can use Instagram in a browser. Hayes said there are no plans right now for a dedicated Mac or Windows app.
Because of the Instagram integration, setting up Threads is fast and easy. Quitting it—not so much. You can’t completely delete your Threads profile unless you also delete your Instagram account, the app’s privacy policy says.
If you really don’t want to use Threads but want to keep Instagram, you can deactivate your account, which hides your profile, Threads, replies and likes. Deactivating Threads doesn’t impact your Instagram account.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, on Thursday said that because Threads is powered by Instagram, it’s currently one account. “But we’re looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately,” he said on Threads.
On the surface Threads is a Twitter clone, but dig deeper and you can find some real differences:
It takes just a few minutes of using Threads to see where Meta rushed things. “There are a bunch of features that are coming that weren’t quite ready for launch,” Hayes said.
Here are some features found on Twitter that we expect on Threads:
Well, us. (Follow WSJ here, Joanna here and Ann-Marie here!) But we certainly cannot sing like Shakira and Nick and Joe Jonas. Or act like Zooey Deschanel and Beanie Feldstein. Or tell jokes like Ellen DeGeneres and Jack Black. Or stream shows like Netflix or cook up burgers like Shake Shack. Or even take off into the skies like American Airlines. Big names and companies seem to be joining the service by the minute.
Check the Threads listing in the Apple App Store and you’ll see that Meta may collect loads of data from the app: Health & Fitness, Purchases, Financial Info, Location, Contacts…The list goes on.
Hayes said that list doesn’t give much context about why or under what circumstances that sort of data would be used. Instead, he pointed us to Threads’s two privacy policies: the Meta privacy policy and a new supplemental Threads-specific policy due to the coming ActivityPub integration. Threads also allows you to designate your account and your posts as public or private.
Still, this is Meta we’re talking about. If you have been a Facebook or Instagram user, it has built up quite a bit of data about you over the years. Expect this to just be another app that feeds into that.
It sure looks like the closest thing to it. Threads has an edge over most Twitter competitors because it uses Instagram to immediately build your following and populate your feed. Heck, in just the first four hours, it had over five million sign-ups, according to Zuckerberg’s own Thread. The app hit 30 million sign-ups as of Thursday morning, he posted.
But as Zuckerberg (or an actor playing him) was once famously told, sort of: “Thirty million sign-ups isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion sign-ups.”
(OK, that might not happen this week, but it’s probably what he’s aiming for.)
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
Employment grew for the 16th consecutive month as companies expanded.
According to a recent PMI report, Qatar experienced its fastest non-energy sector growth in almost two years in June, driven by surges in both existing and new business activities.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) headline figure for Qatar reached 55.9 in June, up from 53.6 in May, with anything above 50.0 indicating growth in business activity. Employment also grew for the 16th month in a row, and the country’s 12-month outlook remained robust.
The inflationary pressures were muted, with input prices rising only slightly since May, while prices charged for goods and services fell, according to the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) report.
This headline figure marked the strongest improvement in business conditions in the non-energy private sector since July 2022 and was above the long-term trend.
The report noted that new incoming work expanded at the fastest rate in 13 months, with significant growth in manufacturing and construction and sharp growth in other sectors. Despite the rising demand for goods and services, companies managed to further reduce the volume of outstanding work in June.
Companies attributed positive forecasts to new branch openings, acquiring new customers, and marketing campaigns. Prices for goods and services fell for the sixth time in the past eight months as firms offered discounts to boost competitiveness and attract new customers.
Qatari financial services companies also recorded further strengthening in growth, with the Financial Services Business Activity and New Business Indexes reaching 13- and nine-month highs of 61.1 and 59.2, respectively. These levels were above the long-term trend since 2017.
Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, QFC CEO, said the June PMI index was higher than in all pre-pandemic months except for October 2017, which was 56.3. “Growth has now accelerated five times in the first half of 2024 as the non-energy economy has rebounded from a moderation in the second half of 2023,” he said.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual