What is Threads? Here's everything you need to know about Meta's new app
Earlier this week, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, brought a new product onto the social-media scene, officially launching Threads, its competitor to Twitter – after confirming plans for the app just three months ago.
Threads is already popular: the app received five million sign-ups in its first four hours and had 30 million users as of Thursday morning, according to the company, making it the most rapidly downloaded app ever. A number of brands, celebrities and other prominent figures are already users: Billboard, HBO, NPR and Netflix had accounts set up within minutes of the launch, and Sarah Jessica Parker, Oprah and Kim Kardashian have now also signed up.
But what exactly is Threads? How does it work, and how easy is it to get an account? Here's everything you need to know about the app that some people are already calling the 'Twitter killer'.
What is Threads?
Free to download, Threads is a text-based conversation app that, according to Meta, is designed to be a space "where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world."
Who is using Threads so far?
A number of famous faces have already signed up to the app, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Shakira, Kim Kardashian, Oprah, Jennifer Lopez and Gordon Ramsay. So far, they're posting introductory content: "Morning all. Posting. With optimism." wrote SJP, who also shared her first post to Instagram.
"I am giddy with the hope that @threadsapp will be a new opportunity to continue to share book titles, images of my day in NYC in elsewhere, support for our libraries, a divinely cooked thin cut pork chop on the bone or anything else I think deserving of your time," she wrote in the caption.
She also expressed her hope that Threads "might prove to be a platform where folks are kind, thoughtful, don't feel encouraged to be mean, aggressive or hostile... this could be a new day".
How do I sign up to Threads?
Thread users will need an Instagram account to log in. Once you've signed up, it's simple: you can choose to follow the same people you do on Instagram, if those users also have Threads, or follow new people entirely. One caveat is worth bearing in mind – if you download Threads and want to delete your account, you'll need to delete your whole Instagram account, too.
How similar is Threads to Twitter
If you're a regular Twitter user, you'll notice the obvious similarities between the two apps: both have newsfeeds, heart-shaped symbols to 'like' others' content and the ability to repost. Some of the wording has been changed, however, with retweets called 'reposts' and tweets called 'threads'. This isn't enough, though, to stop Twitter threatening to sue.
Meta has not been averse to copying rival products in the past, including the 2020 launch of Instagram’s Reels feature, noted for its similarity to TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg has openly said that Threads is designed to rival Twitter, on no lesser platform than his new app. "It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it," he said in a Threads post. "Twitter has had the opportunity do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will."
Posts on Threads can be 500 characters long (compared with 280 for most Twitter users) and videos of up to five minutes in length can be posted. A post can also be shared as a link on other platforms, and posted directly to your Instagram story.
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