Mark Zukerberg and the people over at Meta have just launched the new Instagram-adjacent app, Threads, which sees scores of photographers jumping ship from Twitter. Here, we unpack our initial thoughts on the new contender on the social scene.
Hailed as the "Twitter killer," Threads is described as a text-based conversation app where you can create and reply to conversations with short pieces of text, links to external content, photos, and videos in any combination. If this sounds familiar, that will be because Threads bears some resemblance to the ailing social media app Twitter, which has seen a sharp decline in user satisfaction since Elon Musk purchased the platform late last year.
Musks’ Twitter takeover had some unintended negative consequences when the platform began losing some of its most active users amid ongoing contention, including content moderation controversy, a disastrous rollout of the Twitter Blue verification scheme, and more recently, limiting the number of posts users can see each day. Considering that most photographers share their work on social media for exposure and visibility purposes, it's no surprise that many photographers are among the 30 million strong who have jumped ship over to Threads within the first 24 hours of launch.
Although predominately designed to be a conversational app, Threads seems like a promising space for photographers and creatives of all types to gain meaningful interaction with their work. With its diverse array of capabilities, Threads aims to revolutionize the way we connect and engage online, giving opportunity for some much-needed balance between conversation and content. One issue which has seemingly migrated over from Twitter is an inability to edit posts once shared, which was one of Twitter's less favorable characteristics. However, with a cap of 500 characters, Threads far surpasses Twitter's 280-character constraint, allowing users to express themselves and describe their work in deeper detail. Users can currently enjoy an ad-free experience, but cherish that purity on the newborn platform, as it won't last long.
Instagram has been a useful tool for photographers to reach audiences based on the visually focused nature of the feed. However, Thread’s parent app has felt somewhat hostile for creatives in recent times due to increasingly limited reach. Threads, for the moment, offers photographers a platform that seems more tailored to their needs, facilitating a more interactive and engaging social media experience for sharing photography and connecting with others in the community.
Early impressions, while scrolling through the Threads feed and analyzing early reaction, sees many photographers happy about the lack of restriction on image aspect ratio, and, unlike other platforms, uploads seem to retain sharpness and quality. Carousel posts flow seamlessly through images with minimal effort. We have got our account, and early interactions are positive. Time will tell if this platform continues to meet expectations.
Arguably creating a best-of-both-worlds juncture between Twitter and Instagram, here is an at a glance feature list of Threads:
- Generous 500-Character Limit on Posts
- Option to Like, Comment and Repost other Threads
- Can Include Clickable Links Within your Threads and Replies
- Cross Promote by Sharing Content on Instagram Seamlessly
- Ability to Post 5-Minute Long Videos
- Create Carousels or Single Image Posts
- Better Quality Image Uploads
While there isn’t currently a desktop version of the app, it seems almost certain that this will be incorporated into Meta Business Suite to enable scheduled posts along with Instagram. If you haven’t already done so, download the app before the advertisers and the bots show up to change the flow, and see if you can gain some more traction for your work — if only to direct users to your work on another platform.
A question that I am sure will be answered in time: as the great migration of photographers and other creatives flock to Threads, is this the end for Twitter?
Wow, another way for photographers to see each others' work.
Twitter will bury this app. Another IG clone. Dull imagination from FB, UGG. Twitter is another kind of beast, not this slim snake.
We shall see I guess. I have used Twitter since the beginning, but I hardly use it these days
I read that Musk's attorneys had already filed a cease-and-desist order against Zuck.
I read that just after this article published. If too many of the Twitter-like features get revoked then the user experience wont flow as well as it currently does. Changes will be made regardless.
Joined threads today, and already started blocking and muting people such as the Kardashians etc 🤣
I dare not even type that surname into a device connected to the internet nevermind a social media app
oh god, this already tells me I don't want to touch that place with 10 foot pole lmao.
They're everywhere unfortunately. I have managed to avoid them on Threads, at least for today.
IG's Threads will fail to topple Twitter, just like how it did with it's TikTok clone.
Key statement in article (to me):
"Threads, for the moment..."
Surely they'll find a way to grow a massive user base, at which point (upon whom) they'll then change the rules, negating (again) the countless hours of effort made by same.
Meh... once more why I don't play/participate. I (still) remain the master of my time/labor/effort.
Exactly this. They'll reel you in with organic reach, no ads and good image quality. Once you've spent a year building a following, they'll take it all back - just like they did with Facebook.
There will be changes for sure - some in response to feedback and others in response to corporate greed which is the way the wider world works.
And, something to keep in mind. If you decide to delete your Threads account, well, you can't without also deleting your Instagram account. Only thing you do can right now is deactivate or set your profile to private.
https://petapixel.com/2023/07/06/deleting-the-new-threads-app-will-also-...
I think FB/Meta is the same, you can only deactivate, not fully delete your account.
Meta is the parent and FB and IG are the products. I can delete my FB without it affecting my IG.
Though I do have a Twitter account, I don't use it very much. I jump in and jump out, but that's about it.
I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would get on board with Threads. From what I gather, it's already censoring posts.
IG really needs to go back to its roots; photography and easily searched hashtags. That was its niche. Over the last few years IG has gotten away from its niche and started attempting to usurp already established models on other platforms and it is failing miserably.
What we've witnessed from IG over the last few years is a lack of imagination and true innovation.
Let’s face it, if Threads ever takes off and becomes as popular as Twitter, you can bet it will become the same cesspit Twitter is. I don’t believe any company can create a social media platform and guarantee only well behaved nice people will use it, especially if it becomes extremely popular.
Very true. The best we can hope for is an interface that works well for displaying visuals and reaching others in our community
Here's what might make it take off: a commitment from Meta that it will stay
basically the way it is today. No tsunami of ads, no pay-to-play replacing organic reach, no overly compressed photos.
Otherwise it just seems like another honey pot where we spend time building followings, then they "monetize" and it all dies.
That would be great, however, I think the best we can hope for out of that list is to keep image compression to a minimum.