Trish, what is Threads? What is it like?
Hi there, and welcome back to another week of Ask Trish! I hope you’re all well and enjoying a wonderful July.
Thank you so much for this week’s question-er for the absolutely fantastic, timely, relevant question! For those of you who don’t know, internet company Meta (which counts among its offerings services like Facebook and WhatsApp) recently launched Threads, a new social media platform. It’s captured the fascination and interest of many…and left many wondering: what’s the deal? What is Threads all about? How do I sign up, and (to this week’s question-er’s point!) what’s it like?
To answer those questions, this week, I’m actually going to go ahead and sign up for Threads. I’m going to start by sharing a little more about the platform, walking you through the sign-up process, and sharing my brief first impressions. Hopefully, that should give you all a quick, breezy look into this new platform…without you necessarily having to do it yourself (you’re welcome)!
Sound good? Let’s get into it:
First and foremost – what is Threads? Threads is a new app from Meta for, as the company puts it, “sharing text updates and joining public conversations.” Many (including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself) have pointed out that the app is very similar to Twitter, another popular platform for sharing text updates with the world – leading some to dub Threads a “Twitter clone.” Interestingly, Threads accounts are synced to Instagram accounts – so you actually need an Instagram account to access Threads. (Creative way to get y’all on Instagram, right?) Per Meta, the short-term vision for Threads is creating a space for you “to express your ideas.” The long-term vision is Threads operating as part of “the fediverse, a new type of social media network that allows people to follow and interact with each other on different platforms.” Thus far, those visions have interested many, with 100 million sign-ups for Threads in its first five days (I know!). (Notably, news outlets have reported that since that fiery debut, interest and engagement on the app has slowed – but it’s still very early days.)
Okay, so now that we know what Threads is…how, exactly, does one sign-up? You’ll want to follow the steps below on your phone (please note that these steps are specific to iPhones – but will likely be similar for other smartphones):
- Go to the “App Store” app and search for “Threads”; download the app. (Alternatively, you can open up Instagram, go to your Profile, tap on the three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner, and then tap on “Threads.” Then, tap on “Get Threads” to be redirected to the Threads app on the App Store.)
- Open up the Threads app. Tap “Log in with Instagram” at the bottom. If you have more than one Instagram account, be sure that you’re logging in with the account that you’d like to create a Threads account for. If you want to switch accounts, tap “Switch accounts.”
- Create your profile. (Threads actually allows you to import your bio and personal link from Instagram – which is very handy!)
- Decide if you’d like to take your Instagram followers/the folks you follow on Instagram with you. This is totally up to you – maybe you’d like to bring these people along, or maybe you’d like a fresh start. Either way, do what’s best for you!
- Boom – you’re on Threads!
So, what is Threads like? Well, having just signed up, here are some brief early impressions (and a screenshot!):
- It looks a LOT like Twitter. I mean, exactly like Twitter. You can like Threads, retweet them (it’s called “repost” on Threads), reply to them, etc. It’s no wonder that folks (even Mark Zuckerberg!) have been calling it a Twitter replica.
- All sorts of content may appear in your home feed, including content you didn’t necessarily follow.
- At least at this point, search on Threads is organized by people’s profiles, as opposed to topics or news, which is interesting. I found myself looking for people more than topics, like normally do on Twitter.
- It’s really easy to jump back and forth between Threads and Instagram (whether on your profile or someone else’s profile).
- I really like the design and feel of Threads – from the black background to the way that it merges Instagram and Twitter’s design elements, the aesthetic is quite nice.
- Not everyone in my network is on Threads yet, and if they are on it, they’re not using it a ton/at all…so it hasn’t quite taken off yet. We’ll just have to see where this goes!
I hope that this post was a helpful introduction to the Threads experience! Without a doubt, there’s a lot ahead for this platform – and I encourage y’all to keep an eye on it! (Maybe I’ll do a follow-up post in the coming months.) As we wrap up, as always, I’d like to make my traditional end-of-post plug: if you’re looking for answers to similar questions – or completely unrelated questions – please, please, please join the conversation. All I want for #summer2023…is for you to share any Internet-related questions, thoughts, or perspectives here. Your topic just might be featured in an upcoming TikTok/blog post! Remember, absolutely anything you’re experiencing is totally valid – and by sharing your thoughts, you can help others in our #AskTrish community that are wondering about the same thing(s). So be brave – and an outstanding communitarian – and share your question now. Thank you in advance for being such an amazing Ask Trish reader!
Have a great week,
Trish