You may well be thinking “another social media platform!?” but, as we write this Threads has passed 10 million signups in seven hours! That’s pretty impressive, even if it is backed and owned by one of the largest corporations in the world, with an established user base.
What is Threads?
- Threads is a new app, built by the Instagram team, for sharing text updates and joining public conversations.
- You log in using your Instagram account and posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
- Threads will soon be compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that they believe can shape the future of the internet.
From the Threads about page:
Mark Zuckerberg announced the initial version of Threads, an app built by the Instagram team for sharing with text. Whether you’re a creator or a casual poster, Threads offers a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations. We are working toward making Threads compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the internet.
Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas. Just like on Instagram, with Threads you can follow and connect with friends and creators who share your interests – including the people you follow on Instagram and beyond. And you can use Meta’s existing suite of safety and user controls.
Everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) will be defaulted into a private profile when they join Threads. You can choose to follow the same accounts you do on Instagram, and find more people who care about the same things you do. The core accessibility features available on Instagram today, such as screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions, are also enabled on Threads.
Your feed on Threads includes threads posted by people you follow, and recommended content from new creators you haven’t discovered yet. Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length. You can easily share a Threads post to your Instagram story, or share your post as a link on any other platform you choose.
Threads was built with tools to enable positive, productive conversations. You can control who can mention you or reply to you within Threads. Like on Instagram, you can add hidden words to filter out replies to your threads that contain specific words. You can unfollow, block, restrict or report a profile on Threads by tapping the three-dot menu, and any accounts you’ve blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads.
As with all products, Meta are taking safety seriously, and will enforce Instagram’s Community Guidelines on content and interactions in the app. Since 2016 they’ve invested more than $16 billion in building up the teams and technologies needed to protect their users, and remain focused on advancing their industry-leading integrity efforts and investments to protect their community.
You can read more on the announcement and latest updates here.
You can follow the Ponty Pages on Threads too – just search for PontyPages