Meta's Threads was launched on Thursday, July 6.
Threads, Twitter's most formidable competitor, has arrived. Created by Meta, the text-based conversation app lets people compose and share those messages in real-time. However, it has some different features than Twitter.
List of key differences between Threads and Twitter:
- Meta has confirmed that Threads will give users a 500-character count limit. On the other hand, unverified Twitter users have a maximum of 280 characters. Also, a verified Instagram account can keep their blue badge on Threads. Twitter, meanwhile, offers that feature for $8 a month. The payment will also help subscribers increase their character limit to 25,000. Meta has so far not provided any such option.
- Threads will require users to have an Instagram account. When creating a profile, the app will give an option to import bio information and followers from an existing Instagram profile. This will act in favour of Threads as it will give access to Instagram's large existing userbase.
- On Threads, users (including the unverified ones) will be able to post videos that are five minutes long. On Twitter, those without the coveted blue badge can post two minutes 20 second long videos.
- Twitter's homepage allows users to view what's trending and other topics they may be interested in. For now, the only way to explore what's on Threads is by scrolling through the home feed.
- As of Wednesday's launch, Threads did not appear to have an option to save draft of posts, unlike Twitter where this feature is already present.
- The threading experience is also different. According to screenshots of the two apps circulating online, a user has to hit enter three times to start a thread. On Twitter, it can be done by clicking on the plus button.
- The new product has also not given an option to view other profile's likes, according to the screenshots, the way Twitter offers it as a separate tab.
- Threads will have the same content rules as Instagram, with the same controls for muting and blocking harassing accounts.
- Connor Hayes, vice president of product at Meta, said one of the selling points for Threads is that it is built on the same ActivityPub social-networking protocol as Mastodon and other decentralised social-media apps. That means people who build followings on Threads eventually will be able to use the app to interact with a wider community beyond Instagram.
- Finally, Threads has launched without ads. According to Bloomberg, this has been done to get as many people excited about the product as possible.
