Tweetstorms or Threadstorms?: Threads and Twitter in the Modern Communication Landscape
Meta took the world by storm when they announced a direct rival app against Twitter by launching Threads by Instagram on the 5th of July, 2023
Instagram Threads has swiftly amassed over 5 million users, setting a new record for rapid adoption in the messaging app domain. This milestone surpasses even the impressive growth of ChatGPT, which took five days to reach 1 million users.
Threads’ ability to provide an intimate and focused communication experience has resonated with users, cementing its position as a preferred platform for concise and direct interactions. As the app’s popularity continues to soar, it underscores the significance of innovative features and user-centric design in captivating a broad audience within the dynamic landscape of social media and messaging applications.
Threads, a spin-off app from Instagram, distinguishes itself by emphasising conversations over visual content. Users can engage in text updates and participate in public discussions by logging in with an Instagram account. The app’s design resembles Instagram’s comment section but incorporates features akin to Twitter, such as the ability to reply and re-share posts. Users can create posts with a generous limit of 500 characters, surpassing Twitter’s 280-character constraint, and can include links, up to 10 photos, and videos lasting up to 5 minutes. Unlike Twitter, however, Threads lacks an editing function and does not utilise hashtags or include a trending section.
Instagram Threads owes much of its initial success to its streamlined sign-up process, cleverly leveraging Instagram’s massive user base of 2.35 billion. Unlike other Twitter competitors that start from scratch, Threads taps into this existing pool of users. Signing up is a breeze — simply download the app from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, launch it, and select ‘Log in with Instagram.’ With just a tap on the ‘Import from Instagram’ button, users can effortlessly skip the hassle of filling out personal details and even have their bio automatically transferred, making it an enticing choice for those seeking a seamless and convenient registration experience.
History of the app
Meta’s latest app, Threads, might ring a bell for certain Instagram enthusiasts. Interestingly, Threads was the name of a prior app launched by the same company back in 2019, initially designed as an Instagram companion.
Functioning as a “camera-first” messaging app, it allowed users to share status updates and engage in conversations with their “Close friends.” However, the app was eventually discontinued in December 2021. Now, Threads has made a comeback with a fresh perspective, aiming to position itself as a competitor to Twitter.
The road ahead for threads
In a company-wide meeting held in June, Chris Cox, Meta’s product chief, unveiled his vision for Threads, aiming to create a secure, user-friendly, and reliable platform that provides creators with a stable foundation to cultivate and expand their audiences. Meta’s plan includes making Threads compatible with ActivityPub, a universal protocol for social networking established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the guardian of the web’s open standards. By achieving this interoperability, Threads would be able to connect with other apps that also support the ActivityPub protocol, such as Mastodon and WordPress, opening up new avenues for connections that are currently not feasible on most social apps.
Key differences between Threads and Twitter
- Arrangement and composition: One of the most notable distinctions between Threads and Twitter lies in their structure and length. While Twitter’s character limit caps tweets at 280 characters, Threads allow users to share longer and more comprehensive thoughts or stories by connecting multiple tweets beyond the character limit.
- Content Management: Twitter revolves around real-time, short-form content, where each tweet stands independently and is displayed chronologically on a user’s timeline. In contrast, Threads offer a more organized content structure, allowing users to thread related tweets together, enhancing readability and narrative flow.
- Engagement: In terms of engagement, individual tweets can be liked, retweeted, and replied to, while threads can be retweeted or replied to as a whole, enabling users to express appreciation for the entire thread. Twitter’s regular tweets typically lead to quick interactions, while threads promote in-depth engagement, fostering longer discussions and building a sense of community around the shared narrative.
- Narrative and progression: Threads prove to be ideal for storytelling and maintaining continuity, enabling users to craft detailed narratives across multiple tweets. Twitter’s character limit often hinders comprehensive storytelling capabilities.
- Findability: Tweets tend to have better discoverability and shareability, with single tweets having the potential to go viral and reach a broader audience quickly. Threads may also gain traction, but their spread might be comparatively slower.
- Broadcasting process: Publishing a thread requires more deliberate planning and content structuring, ensuring a cohesive and coherent flow between tweets. In contrast, tweeting individual posts is more spontaneous.
- Content consumption and screen-time: Twitter’s character limit caters to users with shorter attention spans, facilitating on-the-go content consumption. In contrast, reading Threads demands more time and focus due to their extended length.
- Case of Usage: Twitter serves various purposes, including news updates, announcements, sharing links, and expressing concise opinions. Threads are better suited for scenarios that require more context and detail, such as personal stories, tutorials, or in-depth discussions.
- Visual Appearance: Twitter’s timeline mainly displays individual tweets, with threads appearing as expandable content. Threads, when fully developed, present a numbered list of tweets, enhancing the user experience in following the narrative.
Twitter Rebranding as ‘X’
Following a tweet from Twitter owner Elon Musk, X.com has been redirected to Twitter.com, and there are plans to introduce an “interim X logo” that will replace the iconic Twitter bird logo. In the lead-up to this change, Musk extensively tweeted about it, creating anticipation and buzz among users and followers.
In a significant rebranding move, Twitter has officially become “X” following owner Elon Musk’s decision to replace its iconic bird logo with an “X” symbol. Despite this change, the website Twitter.com remains operational, and the app’s branding appears unchanged as of July 24, 2023. Musk hinted at the logo transformation with a short video of a flickering “X” on July 23 and confirmed the change during a Twitter Spaces audio chat, where he humorously stated that they were “cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blow torches.” To reinforce the new identity, Musk shared an image of the “X” branding beamed across Twitter’s headquarters on July 24. This rebranding marks yet another significant shift since Musk’s takeover of the social media platform.
Zuckerberg vs Musk Controversy
The feud between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg ignited in September 2016, triggered by a failed collaboration that saw Zuckerberg’s $200 million satellite exploding on Musk’s SpaceX rocket during a pre-launch test. Zuckerberg expressed deep disappointment on Facebook, blaming SpaceX for the satellite’s destruction.
The tension escalated when Zuckerberg indirectly criticised Musk’s pessimistic views on artificial intelligence during a Facebook Live stream. Musk responded dismissively on Twitter, stating that Zuckerberg’s understanding of the subject was limited.
The feud intensified in 2018 when Musk mocked Facebook on Twitter, deleted the official Facebook pages of his companies, and joined the #DeleteFacebook movement.
Despite Musk admitting fault for the satellite explosion and providing a free launch to compensate, he never reinstated the deleted Facebook accounts. In recent times, Musk has taken jabs at Facebook through memes, referencing its origins and its role in the January 6th riot of 2021. While Zuckerberg has cautiously praised Musk’s managerial decisions at Twitter, Musk has not shown the same restraint in discussing Zuckerberg.
Key points to note:
- According to reports, Threads became the first app to cross 1 million users in the shortest time of launch.
- A lot of backlash regarding the app being a copy of Twitter was seen among Netizens.
- Threads had achieved nearly 100Mn downloads worldwide on iOS and Android.
- The hype quickly declined as having an Instagram account was mandatory and upon deleting Threads, the Instagram account of the user would also get deleted.
- The download rate of threads declined after the initial 2weeks of launch.
Now the question arises
Threads to have 70Mn or more downloads on Android by August 15?
