The Twitter landscape has changed dramatically since Elon Musk acquired the platform last year. Many new competitors have emerged, hoping to dethrone the giant. But despite the buzz around some of them, like Bluesky, none have really taken off. Instagram Threads is different.
Instagram Threads has not only breezed past 5 million users already, but it has also done so in record time. It outperformed ChatGPT, which reached 1 million users in 5 days. So, what is the secret sauce of this platform? Let’s take a look.
Threads is a spin-off app from Instagram that focuses on conversations rather than visual content. You can log in with your Instagram account and share text updates and join public discussions. The app resembles the Instagram comment section in its design but offers the features of Twitter, such as replying and re-sharing posts. You can create posts with up to 500 characters, links, up to 10 photos, and videos up to 5 minutes long.
The sign-up process is the biggest reason for Instagram Threads’ initial success. Threads taps into Instagram’s existing 2.35 billion-strong userbase instead of building from the ground up like other Twitter competitors. You can easily sign up with the Instagram account and skip the hassle of filling out personal details. Even the bio can be automatically transferred.
The registration process is easy. Since Threads is now widely available on both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in India, all you got to do is download it, launch it, tap on ‘Login with Instagram’, and hit on the ‘Import from Instagram’ button to get started.
When you join Threads, you get an ID based on your rank, which depends on when you join the app. This ID appears as a badge under your name or username on your Instagram profile. It tells your followers that you use Threads.
If you’ve used Twitter before, you’ll feel right at home with Threads. If you imported your followers from Instagram, you’ll already recognize some of them on your feed. You can interact with those posts or create your own by tapping on the pencil icon on the bottom navigation bar.
Instagram Threads’ greatest advantage over Twitter is that it’s backed by Instagram’s massive user base. Add to that the ever-growing dissatisfaction surrounding Elon Musk’s Twitter leadership and you have a winning formula.
Threads isn’t the first Twitter alternative to come to the fore following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, though. There’s Bluesky, the Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter clone; Mastodon, the ‘anti-Twitter’; Substack Notes, and many more. However, since they had to build their audiences from scratch, they can feel rather empty and therefore unappealing for users accustomed to the livelier Twitter.
Instagram’s Threads app raises some privacy concerns, though. The app’s App Store listing reveals a long list of permissions that users have to grant, which include access to their “Financial Info” and “Sensitive Info.” That’s a hefty amount of trust to place in an app from Meta, the former Facebook, which has been plagued by scandals and controversies.
Meta’s new app Threads may sound familiar to some Instagram fans. That’s because Threads was the name of a previous app by the same company, launched in 2019 as a companion to Instagram. It was a “camera-first” messaging app that lets users share status updates and chat with their “Close friends”. However, it was discontinued in December 2021. Now, Threads has returned as a new app that aims to rival Twitter.
During a company-wide meeting in June, Meta’s product chief Chris Cox expressed his vision for Threads: a secure, user-friendly, and dependable platform where creators can find a “stable home to build and grow their audiences.”
(With inputs from agencies )
