Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, is now available in Europe 📱

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Launched with great fanfare in July 2023, Meta’s new Threads social network was quickly banned in Europe. After several months, necessary to meet European requirements concerning the treatment of private data, the social network is now available in Europe.

What is Threads 🤔

It was revealed back in April that Meta was working on a new social network to compete with Twitter, which was losing ground. Several names were mooted at the time, including P92 (as it was known internally), but in the end Threads was chosen. Sound familiar? 😉

© Meta

In terms of concept, Meta’s new platform bears a strong resemblance to Twitter. Of course, it’s inspired by it. Users will be able to publish short texts of up to 500 characters to share their thoughts, anecdotes, opinions, jokes, tips and tricks. As with Twitter, it will be possible to include links, photos and videos of up to 5 minutes in length. Users will also be able to like, repost, share with friends and comment on messages.

In the News Feed, users will be able to see posts from people they follow, as well as recommended content from « new creators they haven’t discovered yet ». It’s important to note that profiles of users under 18 will be switched to private mode to protect minors.

A rather favourable launch context🚀

It has to be said that the timing is rather opportune for Meta. Threads has been a long-awaited project for several months, and competes directly with Twitter. Since its acquisition by Elon Musk, advertisers, some subscribers and the industry as a whole have been observing the unstable and often toxic direction taken by Twitter, which claims to be a global public square, but has degraded the user experience.

Recently, Elon Musk announced a limit on the number of messages that can be viewed per account per day. What’s more, the TweetDeck dashboard, very popular with active users, will soon be accessible only to verified, and therefore paying, accounts. These decisions have taken users and developers by surprise.

Threads is closely linked to Instagram 💞

The close relationship between Threads and Instagram is at the heart of Meta’s strategy. The first images of the project shared by Alessandro Paluzzi notably mentioned an « Instagram for your thoughts ». In fact, on the app stores, the social network is clearly named « Threads, an Instagram app ».

This proximity is reflected in the design of the interface, which uses the codes of the photo-sharing application, whether in terms of icons or typography. The first thread published by the app’s account reports:

You found us! If you’ve used Instagram, parts of this app probably feel familiar. 🫶 We’re here to foster a positive and creative space for you to express your ideas. This time, it’s all about conversation.

The application is directly linked to Instagram. Users will be able to connect to Threads from their Instagram account, retaining their username and contacts. Meta, which aims to attract « tens of millions of users in the very first months of operation », is thus ensuring that it has a substantial user base right from the app’s launch. Clearly, the company’s strategy is already bearing fruit: just 7 hours after going live, Threads already had 10 million users.

But that’s not all, as Threads draws on data from over a billion Instagram users worldwide to enable them to use the new platform simply and quickly. Should we be wondering about this open-air data collection?

What does Threads have in store for us in the future?🔮

By building on Instagram’s large community and a familiar user interface, Threads was able to secure a lightning launch. Nevertheless, Threads’ immediate impact as a threat to Twitter could be limited by a number of factors.

As Threads is still in its early stages of development, it lacks some of the features that have made Twitter so successful:

• Search by theme and hashtags : Twitter is the ideal platform for following the news in real time, thanks to its search by theme or hashtag. For the time being, Threads search is solely dedicated to account discovery.
• Live audio : Popularized by ClubHouse during the Covid crisis, live audio quickly found its place on Twitter and continues to gain interest. Facebook and Instagram already integrate live video, so it’s likely that Threads will also adopt a live format, audio or video, in the future.
• Lists and bookmarks : Twitter lists and bookmarks are handy ways of organizing favorite accounts by topic, as well as favorite tweets. A feature similar to bookmarks already exists on Instagram, so let’s hope it finds its way to Threads.
• Direct messages : For the moment, Threads has no direct messaging, and all interactions take place in the public space. Yet a private space is an absolute must on a social network.

In addition to the absence of these features, Meta will have to wait before launching the network worldwide. Initially scheduled to be available worldwide, Europe has been excluded from the launch due to data collection issues.

How to access the Threads application ? 🤔

Threads app is available on the App Store and Google Play Store in over 100 countries. If you already have the Instagram app installed on your smartphone, you’ll be able to connect naturally. If you’re in Europe and still want to test the app, you can do so, provided you follow a few simple steps.

What do you think of Meta and Instagram’s move into micro-blogging? Will you be testing the app? Tell us all about it in the comments.

Sources: Meta, Instagram, Ouest France