Threads: A New Public Conversation App Challenging Twitter's Dominance

The past two weeks have been quite challenging for Twitter users, testing their patience with multiple outages. In the midst of these disruptions, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner, restricted the number of tweets that both paying and non-paying accounts could view each day, citing data scraping by other organizations as the reason. Rather than addressing the complaints, Mr. Musk resorted to posting memes and mocking Twitter users.

What is Threads?

Threads, a text-based public conversation app, was launched on July 5 by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The team behind Instagram developed this app, and it has become available to iOS and Android users in over 100 countries. Within just two days, Threads garnered approximately 70 million sign-ups, leaving even Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg astonished, according to a report by Bloomberg.

As of December 2022, Twitter had approximately 368 million monthly active users worldwide, while Instagram boasted over two billion monthly active users, as reported by Statista.

How Does Threads Work?

Threads is integrated with a user's Instagram account. Users need to sign up through Instagram and can maintain their original username and the accounts they were following. Various settings such as blocking, user restrictions, and word filters are synchronized between the two platforms. However, if a user decides to discontinue using Threads, they can only deactivate the account. Deleting Threads would result in deleting their Instagram account as well. Users are presented with content from the accounts they follow on both Instagram and Threads, along with recommended content.

There are plans to allow users to exclusively view content from the accounts they follow. At present, Threads does not support private messaging.

According to the Google Play Store, Threads can collect various data from users, including location, personal information, financial details, health and fitness data, messages, photos and videos, files and documents, calendar events, and more. Personal information that Threads can gather encompasses the user's address, phone number, political or religious beliefs, and/or sexual orientation.

Although Threads is still in its early stages, Meta intends to make it compatible with the open social networking protocol ActivityPub. This compatibility would enable Threads to function with platforms such as the decentralized social media site Mastodon and the content management system and website builder WordPress.

How Similar is Threads to Twitter?

Threads bears similarities to Twitter in terms of its user interface and core features. Users on Threads can create posts and engage in discussions by commenting. They can also like, repost, and quote posts, as well as share them on Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms. Threads allows posts of up to 500 characters and supports media such as links, pictures, and videos up to five minutes long.

Twitter is often relied upon by news organizations and professionals for real-time updates, official statements, and comments. However, Threads currently lacks the essential keyword search functionality required by these users. Additionally, Threads does not provide trends in the same manner as Twitter.

Currently, Meta's new app combines familiar elements from both Instagram and Twitter. Ads have not been introduced to Threads yet. It remains to be seen how the platform will evolve based on user and advertiser demands.

Elon Musk's Reaction to Threads

Initially, Mr. Musk responded to news reports about Threads with jokes and lighthearted comments. However, Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, threatening a lawsuit, as reported by Semafor. In the letter dated July 5, Mr. Spiro claimed that Meta had hired "dozens of former Twitter employees" who utilized their knowledge of Twitter's trade secrets to build Meta's "copycat" Threads app. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone emphasized that no former Twitter employee was part of the Threads engineering team.

Leading up to the launch of Threads, Mr. Musk and Mr. Zuckerberg publicly engaged in challenges and taunts, even challenging each other to a physical fight.

Why Is Threads Facing Issues in the EU?

Users in the European Union encountered difficulties in downloading Threads on July 5, as Meta postponed the release of the app in these countries due to regulatory compliance challenges in the region. Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, stated in an interview with tech outlet The Verge that while Meta plans to introduce Threads to the EU, the timeline will be extended to ensure compliance with laws coming into effect in 2024.

Although Mr. Mosseri did not specify the particular law, the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect in May, classifies major online platforms as "gatekeepers" and establishes regulations to ensure fair data handling, non-discrimination against competitors, and obtaining consent for targeted advertising outside the "core platform service."

Furthermore, in July, the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of Germany's anti-cartel watchdog, which sought to halt Meta's practice of merging data collected across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Other Twitter Rivals

Since Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter in late October 2022, rival social media platforms witnessed a surge in new user sign-ups due to concerns about the rise of bigotry and misinformation on Twitter under his leadership. Mastodon, for example, attracted approximately one million new users, as reported by The Guardian. However, the growth was inconsistent, and Mastodon received criticism for its complex structure involving multiple servers that users can access.

Another contender is Bluesky, a platform in which Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey is involved as a board member. Bluesky is developing a public conversation protocol that allows users to transition between platforms instead of being confined to a single one. While the beta version of Bluesky requires an invitation, the platform amassed 50,000 users in April and over 58,000 sign-ups in early July, according to CNBC. Bluesky employs invitation codes to discourage spammers and malicious users, resulting in limited growth as a Twitter competitor.

How Are Bluesky and Mastodon Different from Twitter and Threads?

Bluesky and Mastodon both strive to be decentralized platforms. Bluesky is based on the AT Protocol, and its creators aim to enable developers to build their own applications on the protocol, facilitating user movement between social media platforms without data loss. Mastodon, on the other hand, operates through servers that users must join to connect with others. These servers can be region-specific or focused on specific topics, such as Technology, Gaming, LGBTQ+, Music, and more. Each Mastodon server has its own entry requirements and policies, and users can switch between servers or host their own.

Meta's Threads intends to adopt the ActivityPub protocol used by Mastodon in the future, allowing both platforms to collaborate.

In contrast, Twitter is a centralized social media platform that exercises greater control over user actions and content moderation. If Twitter users wish to migrate their accounts to another platform, they must start from scratch with zero followers and posts.

With its vast user base, Meta emerges as the strongest contender to challenge the increasingly unpredictable Twitter. However, Threads introduces experimental features, dark patterns, and algorithmic feeds at a time when internet users seek usability, transparency, and accountability from their social media providers.