It's been almost a week since the launch of Instagram Threads, Meta's new social network that competes directly with Elon Musk's Twitter. And this isn't the first time that Instagram has "copied" other social networks, is it? Stories and Reels themselves were created to replicate the features of Snapchat and TikTok.
Threads comes at a time when the relationship between Twitter and its users is in crisis, as the company has been limiting some features, especially for free users. The company justifies these actions by trying to stop the mass collection of data, referencing AI companies. In early July, Elon Musk tweeted that some of these limitations were “temporary.”
Twitter vs. Threads: Similarities and Differences
To begin with, when testing Threads, I can say that I felt quite morocco whatsapp data familiar. This is because the layout and main functionalities are basically identical to those of Twitter.
Of course, there are some differences in terms of features and buttons. For example, instead of “Tweet”, we have “New Thread” to create a new post, just as “Repost” is equivalent to “Retweet”. But overall, it’s basically the same thing.
You can also easily share your “Thread” on Instagram Stories, thanks to the integration of the two networks.
As for the features, to be honest, I don't think there are many differences between them. But one thing that Instagram highlighted as an important difference is that Threads is a decentralized social network.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri explained in this New York Times podcast that Threads, like Mastodon, is built on ActivityPub.
This means that eventually, in the future, it will be possible for different social networks built on ActivityPub to work with each other and also allow users to import their contacts from one platform to another, giving more autonomy to content creators.
This is a big change in philosophy that we will have to wait and see how it works out.
How does Threads work?
Your Threads profile is created using your Instagram credentials. When you start the process, you have the option to import your Instagram profile information and also automatically follow your entire network. If you choose this option, a connection invitation is automatically sent to all of your contacts, which I believe is a huge benefit for content creators who don’t have to start their positioning from scratch.
On the other hand, as a user, this can be inconvenient. Considering that you may have a different purpose for Threads and want to make different connections there, you may feel uncomfortable ignoring the invitations and even feel obligated to follow back the same people from your Instagram.
What if I want to delete my Threads profile? Well, this is something that has irritated some users. Since it is integrated with Instagram, the account becomes unique, so to delete Threads you will need to delete both. But don't worry! You can still deactivate your Threads profile and hide it, while keeping your profile active on Instagram.