Threads Vs Twitter: Unraveling the Microblogging Debate.  

Threads Vs Twitter: Unraveling the Microblogging Debate.

 

Threads is the new Meta platform, recently released and reaching over 100 million users within 5 days. The latest rival to Twitter has made a significant impact in the realm of social media. In addition to having many similar functionalities and a familiar user interface, Threads claimed to pose a serious threat to Twitter (with 353.9M users).

The rapid growth of Threads users, combined with Elon Musk’s new regulations, was expected to decrease the number of Twitter users, but the contrary occurred.

Elon Musk recently tweeted that the app experienced a 3.5% average increase in the number of daily active users, week over week.

While Threads and Twitter certainly share a striking resemblance, allowing users to share text updates and join public conversations, there are significant variations. The search experience in Threads is limited to finding accounts, with no option to find people’s postings or search by topic. Since there is no trending page, it is impossible to determine what topics are shaping the conversation. There are no direct messages, and the notifications are a complete mess.

Unlike Twitter, Threads doesn’t appear to support hashtags, and it doesn’t have a search function where users can look for particular words or phrases. In addition, users can publish up to 10 photos at a time, which is the same as Instagram’s restriction, as opposed to Twitter’s four-photo limit.

Many of those features, according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, are in the works, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Twitter will never be completely replaced by Threads, no matter how much the app advances.

Twitter connects all.

Twitter is one of the most influential and impactful social media platforms. There are a lot of influential users on Twitter, but there are also more regular individuals who shared whatever is on their minds, babbled on about subjects they were excited about, and engaged in heated debates (or disputes) with one another. The platform increased the power of the average person. Twitter could reinforce users’ unions to call out well-known brands, famous people, or even regular users to apologize if they said or did something wrong. It allowed people to make their voices heard and provided an opportunity to have a say in matters that affected the public. Twitter also made it easier for people to find and connect with one another, bridging the gap between different communities.

That is what makes Twitter addictive.

Threads app is still too far from competing with Twitter for now.

Meta executive hinted that there will be some improvements. These improvements include features and tools updates to help users find the topics they are interested in. In addition, Meta will be working on enhancements to search, new methods to discover subjects and trends, tools for creators, and communications. They will also add and tweak app features based on the creators’ reviews and feedback.

And then there are the lingering privacy concerns associated with Meta. According to its data privacy declaration on the App Store, Threads has the ability to gather a variety of personal data, including health, financials, contacts, browser and search history, location data, transactions, and “sensitive info”.

Due to those privacy concerns Threads is not currently accessible in the European Union, where strict data protection laws are in place.

Could Threads be a Twitter Killer?

Thread is still in its early stages and is yet to prove itself to be a worthy competitor to Twitter. There is still an open question of whether Threads can compete with Twitter in terms of user engagement and features after implementing all the improvements and features Meta executives claimed to include. Ultimately, only time will tell if Threads can become a viable alternative to Twitter, now known as TwitterX.