Twitter (or should we say, X) vs Threads.

There’s a new kid on the social media block. It looks like Twitter. And it works quite like Twitter too. So, what exactly is Threads and is it about to take the world by storm? Let’s have a quick look…

I know what you’re thinking - ‘do we really need another social media app?’ Your answer probably depends on how you feel about Twitter. It’s gone through quite a few big changes recently, including an issue with ‘throttling’. This was where you could only view 600 tweets before you’d reached your limit for the day. Then you were stuck refreshing your feed with no new content to show for it. And as you can imagine, that left a lot of people a bit confused and frustrated.

And it might go through an even bigger overhaul soon too. After 17 years, Twitter recently announced they’ll be changing their name to X. Yep. Literally just the letter. This rebrand is all part of the plan to turn the platform into the next super-app. What does that actually mean though? Well, not a whole lot – at least for now. No new features have been released just yet. But no doubt they’ll be coming at some point down the line. So, make sure to keep your eyes peeled.

This is where Mark Zuckerberg comes in. The Facebook founder (technically it’s Meta now) went ahead and launched Threads. It’s a text-based microblog-style app just like Twitter. It has a really ‘early Twitter’ feel to it too. Which has helped it to drum up lots of hype, with huge numbers signing up on the first day alone. And of course, that means some massive new competition.

Threads is just like any other app. Whether you’re on iPhone or Android, you just search for it on your app store. Once it’s downloaded, the sign-up process is really easy. If you’re already an Instagram user, it’s as simple as connecting your existing account. And just like that, you’re now on Threads. All your followers and the accounts you follow migrate as well. So, you don’t have to spend any time doing boring social media admin. Nice.

Integrating an existing Instagram username is the only way you can sign up though. That means if you don’t have an account, you’ll need to make one to get stuck into Threads.

Seeing your feed for the first time might result in some serious déjà vu. You can like, repost (not retweet), reply to, or quote a ‘thread’. So basically, all of the things you can do to a tweet.

There’s some great news if you’re not a fan of the Twitter character limit. Posts on Threads are capped at 500 characters. That’s nearly double the limit of a tweet. You can also share up to 10 images in a single post, instead of four. Making it way easier to share your albums worth of holiday snaps.  

The feed isn’t split like it is on Twitter. There’s no ‘following’ and ‘for you’. That means you’ll occasionally see random stuff from accounts you don’t follow. But the feed itself is easy to read. It’s slick and clean, so scrolling through it feels pretty satisfying. You can search for accounts but not specific posts or topics. That also means hashtags aren’t really a thing on Threads.

It’s a hard call to make considering both apps are basically the same. A lot of it comes down to your personal experience. With more and more unwanted adverts and tweets appearing on our Twitter feeds lately, it’s refreshing to open an app and be able to clearly see and engage with content you actually want to look at.

Have you tried Threads? Which social network do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.