Toba Owojaiye ReportingÂ
Mark Zuckerberg, the American business magnate and owner of Facebook and Instagram, launched Threads, a new app similar to Twitter. Threads became available on the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries on the same day.
Users can sign up for Threads directly from their Instagram accounts. Based on screenshots from the App Store listing, Threads functions like Twitter, allowing users to post text-based content that can be liked, shared, and commented on.
Within 24 hours of its release, Threads became the most downloaded social networking app, surpassing 100 million downloads, as announced by Zuckerberg. The developer describes Threads as an app that brings communities together for discussions on a wide range of topics.
The app was published a day earlier than planned on Wednesday evening, July 6, 2023, and allows users to sign up seamlessly using their Instagram accounts. This implies that once Threads becomes globally available, more than 2 billion monthly active users will have the option to import their Instagram accounts to the app.
Here are the 20 things to know about Threads;
• It has the fastest record time of any platform to hit 100 million subscribers
• Threads has a 500-character limit for text-based posts.
• You cannot pin threads to keep them at the top of your profile.
• Deleting your Threads account will also delete your Instagram account, so deactivating it may be a better option.
• When uploading pictures on Threads, the app maintains the quality of the image without reducing it.
• As of now, there is no direct messaging (DM) feature in Threads.
• The hashtag feature is not available yet.
• You can share threads directly to your Instagram feed or stories, as well as to Twitter.
• Similar to Instagram, you can hide offensive words by going to settings, then privacy, and then keywords.
• You can set a time limit on threads.
• You can choose who can reply to your threads, similar to the feature on Twitter.
• Like Instagram, you can hide like counts on Threads.
• Currently, all notifications are consolidated in one place.
• There are no ads in Threads at the moment.
• Threads only shows the number of followers you have, not the number of people you follow.
• You can upload up to 10 items at once on Threads, similar to Instagram’s multi-upload feature.
• Accounts that you have already blocked on Instagram will also be blocked on Threads.
• Meta (the company that owns Instagram) is working on making Threads compatible with ActivityPub.
• Instagram’s community guidelines apply to Threads, and users can report violations.
• Future features being developed for Threads include direct messaging, trending topics, and an improved search function.
Whether or not you choose to sign up for Threads would depend on your personal preferences and how these features align with your social media needs.