Threads launches: Meta’s Twitter rival has arrived – the way it works, the right way to be part of, and which celebs are on board

Threads, the long-awaited Twitter rival from Meta, launches within the UK at present.

Built by the agency’s Instagram staff, it is billed as a house for “sharing text updates and joining public conversations”.

Its launch could not be extra aggressively timed, coming days after one other controversial transfer by Twitter’s incendiary proprietor Elon Musk pressured many individuals to search for another platform.

With a shamelessly comparable look and the billions of Mark Zuckerberg behind it, Threads appears well-placed to problem “the bird app” in a manner the likes of Bluesky and Mastodon have not fairly managed.

Here’s all the things it’s good to know.

What is Threads?

Threads is designed at first as a spot to share public real-time textual content updates, identical to Twitter.

Indeed, you barely even should squint, and Threads seems identical to Twitter – although it does have a unique font.

Posts could be as much as 500 characters lengthy and embody hyperlinks, pictures, and movies of as much as 5 minutes.

They seem in a timeline format, and posts could be preferred, reposted, replied to, and shared elsewhere.

Users will have the ability to comply with celebrities, athletes, and associates, a lot of whom may have jumped over from Instagram.

It’s obtainable on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Read extra:
Why Meta’s Twitter rival might lastly be the one which catches on

What do you imply ‘jumped over from Instagram’?

Besides the cash and affect of Meta itself, the largest leg-up Threads has on its opponents is it leverages Instagram’s already large person base.

There are greater than two billion Instagram accounts, and the identical credentials can be utilized to log in to Threads.

Usernames and verification will carry over, which means Threads might rapidly assemble an enormous line-up of celebrities, athletes, politicians, sports golf equipment, information shops and types that already use Instagram.

It additionally means you are more likely to have extra associates and different followers you recognise from Twitter on Threads.

It might in a short time really feel so much livelier than apps like Bluesky and Mastodon, which have grown since Musk’s Twitter takeover however nonetheless comfortably path its estimated person base of 360-400 million.

Read extra:
Why are so many apps adopting the identical look?

Has anybody well-known signed up but?

Early adopters embody chef Gordon Ramsay, pop star Shakira, F1 driver Lando Norris, and NBA star Seth Curry.

Even for those who do not comply with them, they could present up in your feed if their posts are deemed “recommended content”.

It’s actually a smaller line-up to start out with than Instagram and Twitter presently have, however might develop quick.

How is Threads dealing with privateness and security?

Meta says Threads may have the identical options as Instagram on this regard.

All profiles aged below 18 might be defaulted to non-public after they be part of, and anybody can management who can reply to or point out them. Words may also be filtered so you do not see any posts that include them.

Accounts could be blocked, restricted and reported to Meta’s moderation staff, and anybody you’ve got blocked on Instagram will mechanically be blocked on Threads.

Read extra:
Zuckerberg faces lengthy and painful street to metaverse success

Is there something actually distinctive about Threads?

Not actually to be sincere, however there may be one fascinating resolution that might inform the way it develops.

Meta says Threads will quickly be appropriate with ActivityPub – in essence, it is an open social networking protocol permitting completely different platforms to speak to one another.

It’s the identical strategy taken by upstarts like Mastodon, however extra uncommon for a significant firm.

In practise, it will permit you to switch content material between providers. So for those who’ve spent the previous 9 months on Mastodon after leaving Twitter however now need to transfer to Threads, you would finally switch your content material.

You might additionally work together with folks on completely different apps irrespective of which one you are actively utilizing, together with your posts accessible throughout digital strains. All the whereas, every platform might nonetheless have its personal moderation insurance policies.

For many, the largest problem in relation to leaving any social media platform is the prospect of abandoning probably years of content material and interactions. Ideally, this decentralised strategy may very well be an answer.