Threads Vs Twitter, who are you supporting? The launch of Meta’s highly anticipated Threads app brought about the start of its fierce battle with the seasoned player of the field, namely, Twitter. While Threads has managed to garner a lot of hype and attention from the online community as a whole along with record sign-ups early on, it will be an uphill climb to remain relevant in the long run. Where on the one hand the newcomer has been praised for its sleek appearance, on the other, there are more than a few features that need to be added to the app’s experience for further enhancement.
Introduced as a direct competitor to Twitter, it has to be appreciated that the Threads app has won in its tiny way by not being completely disregarded as soon as it arrived. Attracting over 100 million sign-ups within a week of its launch is a commendable feat indeed. As much as Threads might be reminiscent of Twitter, there are plenty of technical differences between the two. It is these differences that set them apart from each other and will play an important role in determining which among them is better.
Threads Vs Twitter – Which one got the upper hand?
Ease of Signing In
The process of signing in to the Threads app is possibly the fastest and most convenient compared to any other social media app including Twitter. Because of its piggybacking on Instagram, one hardly has to do anything much to begin their journey on the Threads app.
While some view the necessity of a profile on Instagram to become a user of the Threads app as a disadvantage, it is neutralized by the fact that one doesn’t have to start by looking for their friends as they simply follow you from Instagram right through to the Threads app.
Not a Game of Numbers
Not displaying the number of accounts you follow as well as your followers as prominently as Instagram is already a big win for Threads. As against the clear mention of both these numbers on Twitter as well, the display of the number of followers is quite subtle on the Threads profile of users.
Additionally, the number of accounts a user is following is concealed within the list of followers; switching to the following list displays the number in a very tiny font. Instead of focusing on these numbers, Threads encourages the building of a genuine community among its users.
Viewing Liked Content
A simple toggle to the ‘Likes’ tab on a Twitter profile lets users view the content anyone has liked. Instead, on the lines of community building, Threads does not let its users see what other users have liked. This way, one can spend more time engaging with the content of their interests instead of focusing on anything else.
Saving Posts and Drafts
Twitter allows you not only to save your thoughts as a draft till the time you want to post them in a tweet, but it also lets you save tweets of other users that are of interest to you or in case you want to read through them at a later time. The absence of this feature on Threads at the moment is a big point of complaint amongst its users. However, since Instagram offers this feature, it can be hoped that it will soon come over to the Threads app as well.
Character Limit & Video Content
Twitter’s limit of 280 characters means longer threads in case of intense thoughts. While it offers a whopping 25,000 character limit to its verified users, it comes with a monthly payment of $8.
In contrast, the Threads app has a limit of 500 characters across all its users and even lets everyone share up to five minutes of video content. The duration limit for video content for unverified users on Twitter, on the other hand, is just above two minutes.
Creating Threads
Posting threads not only lets you share your thoughts in detail, but it also lets you segregate the points and make them presentable while posting it all together.
On Twitter, all you need to do to begin a new entry is to click on the ‘plus’ sign while you draft your post. And while Threads surely has this feature, it is a tiny bit trickier. Every new entry requires the enter button to be hit thrice which could be seen as a nuisance, though it works just fine.
Direct Messaging & Website Portal
While Twitter can be accessed through its website and also offers the feature of Direct Messaging (DM), Threads has neither of these at present. Plenty of Twitter users communicate with each other through DMs and many even have multiple group chats as well. Additionally, Twitter’s website seamlessly provides the app’s experience to its users. Work on both these factors will surely be in the favor of Threads if implemented.
Sponsored Ads & Bots
Twitter has recently been run over with numerous sponsored ads and countless bot accounts. While users cannot really do much about the ad content, Twitter has actively been trying to curb the spread of bots and fake accounts by enforcing harsh rate limits which allow viewing only a specific number of tweets during a day. Needless to say, new and unverified users are on the lowest rung of the ladder.
While Threads has been launched completely free of ads, such content can definitely be expected at some point in the future. While the absence of hashtags on Threads kept the bots away initially, they have now found a way to overcome this hurdle. As rate limits are one of the most efficient ways of combating bots, Threads has also announced the need for enforcing them but we do not know the intensity of these limits yet.
While nobody expected Threads to overthrow Twitter, it has definitely managed to cause a dent in its presence. Whether or not it continues its dream run is yet to be seen. Ultimately, the app that keeps its relevance, in the long run, will be the rightful winner of this battle. If you enjoyed this article share it with friends and families, and ask them who are they supporting in Threads vs Twitter.