by Nikolaos Tsakonas
The rumors over the last two months have been confirmed: as of today, Meta's new text-based app, called Threads, is now available for free download in more than 100 countries from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Developed by the Instagram team, it allows users to share text updates and join public discussions. Although it’s a standalone conversation app, users can simply use their existing Instagram account to log in in order to post text updates up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length, while soon there will be an option to follow hashtags and trending topics. Users can also unfollow, block, limit or report other accounts, as well as filter specific words. Does it sound familiar to you?
On Thursday, July 6, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, announced the launch with a Reel through his personal account, while Meta’s founder Mark Zuckerberg posted the iconic Spider-Man face-off meme in his first tweet in a decade. Nothing happens by chance, since the newly Threads app appears to be Twitter's rival. The release of Threads coincided perfectly with some rumors that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have been egging each other into a mixed martial arts cage match in Las Vegas, but also with Musk's decision, just a few days ago, to impose daily usage quotas on tweets (up to 10,000 posts for verified accounts, 1,000 posts for unverified accounts and 500 posts for new unverified accounts), a move that was linked to the collection of data by companies developing advanced artificial intelligence models.
As Twitter seems locked in a chaotic doom loop and just one month before the newly appointed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, plans to unveil the Twitter 2.0 strategy for the platform's future via an upcoming Twitter Space, Zuckerberg wrote: “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will."
The new application garnered an impressive 30+ million registrations within its first 24 hours, while a PR wave of many creators, celebrities (Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Gordon Ramsay, Connor Franta, Gary Vaynerchuk, etc.) and public figures are already posting text updates by promoting the app as well as encouraging their audience to download it. Also, several brands have instantly activated their profile and tapped into the conversation, such as HBO, Netflix, Spotify, Wendy’s, T-Mobile, OREO, Ryanair, ASOS, Pepsi, Amazon, Sony, Coca-Cola, or Sephora, in a strategic decision to enter first a less "toxic" version of Twitter, but also to take advantage of the community engagement trend and the overall hype through relevant content.
Meta describes Threads as: “...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 favorite 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.”
And this is possible under the concept of the freedom of expression. This is something really crucial for Meta, especially due to the competition from the emerging decentralized microblogging platforms, such as Mastodon. Meta is committed to giving users more control over the audience by partnering with ActivityPub, a decentralized social networking protocol standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), in order to provide users with the option to stop using Threads and transfer their content to another platform. Meta’s vision is that people using compatible apps will be able to follow and interact with people on Threads without having a Threads account, and vice versa, ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks.
A few things to know:
- Threads isn't yet running in the EU due to regulatory concerns (EU's Digital Markets Act).
- Everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) will be defaulted into a private profile when they join Threads.
- Users can sign in with their existing Instagram credentials and keep their usernames, followers and verification status.
- Users can choose to follow the same accounts they do on Instagram, and find more people who care about the same things they do.
- Users can switch accounts, but they need to log out first and then switch.
- Users can add up to 10 media files to a single post, and they can add more than one video to the post.
- Deleting your Threads account will also delete your Instagram account, as the app notes: “You can always delete individual posts. To delete your Threads profile and date, you’ll need to delete your Instagram account.”
- Soon, a few new features are expected to be added, including improved recommendations in feed, voice notes, photo and video tagging, post reactions, as well as a more robust search function that makes it easier to follow topics and trends in real-time.
- According to the Guardian, Meta will not allow ads in the Threads app at least within 2023.
Nikolas Tsakonas is Head of Social at Ogilvy Athens.
