Threads: A Great New Social Home for Developers
Threads is a new social network from the Instagram team that rocketed to 100 million members in just 5 days. Obviously, Threads membership got a boost from the 2.35 billion members of Instagram, but don’t write off those membership growth numbers. To be counted as a threads member, you need to download the app and create your Threads profile, which means you have to be convinced to give the app a try.
And it’s definitely worth a try. In fact, since I signed up, Threads has become my new social media home base. I’m active on other platforms, of course, but sharing your thoughts in brief text snippets is such a low barrier to participation, for every post on another social network, I might post dozens of times on Threads.
That’s a big deal. So far, Threads seems to reward and encourage engagement in ways that Twitter never did.
Minimal Design Built for Engagement
The Threads app features a clean, minimal UI. It respects your OS preferences, which I appreciate. Maybe I just grew fond of dark terminals and IDEs, but Dark mode just feels right to me.
Threads delivers an experience optimized for engaging with real people in an authentic way. The text-based format with room for up to 500 characters per post lowers the barrier for meaningful back-and-forth discussion.
Embedding links, photos, and short videos is seamless. The image carousel is a particularly nice touch, letting you swipe through multi-image posts easily.
One of my favorite features is the ability to create “thread storms” by stringing multiple posts together. Just hit Enter a few times to start a new entry within the thread. You can go back and edit earlier entries before posting the full thread all at once. Great for the deep dives.
I love the attention to detail in the UI. When you see a thread, it shows a little loop in the line on the left side.
Threads is Great for Developers
I’m really excited by the early traction among tech people on Threads. Many of your favorite JavaScript and AI content creators are already posting on Threads, including me, @_ericelliott, @_JSCeee, @dragut_zeroth, and @SudoLang. Follow us to help focus your feed on the tech you care about.
The text-focused format lends itself well to the kind of thoughtful engineering discussions we tend to have. And so far, Threads seems to deliver a much higher engagement rate compared to competing platforms.
Some users report 2–10X the engagement per follower versus competing sites. Great for meaningful interactions in a niche community.
Threads + Instagram
One of my favorite aspects of Threads is the deep integration with Instagram. When you sign up, you have the option to automatically follow on Threads all the accounts you already follow on Instagram.
This means you can quickly build up a feed on Threads filled with creators you already know and love. It’s a great jumpstart to populating your new feed.
Bootstrap Your Feed With Thoughtful Follows
One of the things that confuses new users is the random noise in their feed when they first join. To clean up your feed, don’t waste your time muting all the people you don’t want to see. Instead, follow 100–200 accounts that post frequently about topics you care about.
To discover new accounts in your niche, find an influencer who’s already posting great content. Click on their followers count, then switch to the “Following” tab to see who they follow. Rinse, repeat.
When that’s done, you’ll see far less filler content from big brands and celebrities. Instead, your feed fills with the kinds of conversations and ideas you actually enjoy.
Give Threads a Spin
I’m betting that Threads becomes a go-to online hangout spot for developers and technical people interested in engaging discussion.
If that sounds good to you, give threads a Spin. Follow some of your favorite creators from our community to get started. Drop your Threads link in the comments so readers can follow you!
https://Threads.net/@<your-username-here>Eric Elliott is a tech product and platform advisor, author of “Composing Software”, creator of SudoLang (the AI programming language), cofounder of EricElliottJS.com and DevAnywhere.io, and dev team mentor. He has contributed to software experiences for Adobe Systems, Zumba Fitness, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, BBC, and top recording artists including Usher, Frank Ocean, Metallica, and many more.
He enjoys a remote lifestyle with the most beautiful woman in the world.
