What is Threads and should you join?
As more and more esports personalities continue to talk about the death of Twitter by Elon Musk’s hands, a competitor seemed to pop up overnight. So what exactly is Threads, and should you join it?
Mark Zuckerberg appeared to create Threads with the snap of his fingers as people continued to complain about Twitter’s limitations and leadership errors. With Musk continuing to make unpopular changes to the blue bird app, a lot of streamers, influencers, and gamers have decided to move to Threads. In fact, over 30 million people are already on it.
What is Threads?
Threads is a text-based social media platform created by Meta, the same parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It’s very similar to Twitter in that it’s meant to share short thoughts and updates that people can repost, quote, or reply to.
Threads is connected to Instagram, just like Facebook, and it has a lot of similarities when it comes to its aesthetic. The navigation system is very reminiscent of Instagram, and you can easily share posts from Threads directly to your Instagram stories, sort of like how you can share Instagram posts and stories to Facebook.
On Threads, CEO Zuckerberg explained: “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success. That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”
Twitter vs. Threads
Threads is clearly meant to be a direct competitor to Twitter. For this reason, it has a lot of similar features. On Threads, you have a 500-character limit to ensure that you’re writing just a few sentences. This will keep your feed full of snappy, witty, and quick thoughts just like Twitter.
Similarly to Twitter, your feed will feature both posts from people you follow as well as people they reply to. You will even find posts from people that the algorithm believes you’ll find interesting, so don’t be surprised to see some random thoughts from influencers you aren’t following.
Threads allows you to repost or quote posts, just like Twitter as well.
Will Threads kill Twitter?
A lot of people are speculating that Threads will be a “Twitter killer.”
A lot of apps have tried these past few months, but it looks like Threads is the most likely social media platform to take down the struggling giant. Since it’s connected to so many users already, it’s been easy for a lot of people to make the transition and immediately find all of their usual friends and networks.
“It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg said in a Threads post. “Twitter has had the opportunity do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”
For now, there are some safety concerns over Threads that are similar to the privacy issues brought up about Instagram. It also seems a bit difficult to deactivate your Threads account if you choose to. This hasn’t stopped a lot of people from joining, however.
Right now, Twitter is the home of most esports and gaming-related updates and news. Most esports organizations, pros, and content creators use it to keep their communities up-to-date. This includes everything from patches and server issues to match outcomes and roster announcements.
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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