Just a week ago, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Threads, a Twitter-like platform aimed at luring people off social media giant, Twitter. Threads join the long list of apps (Mastodon, Bluesky, Spoutible, etc) that have basically cloned Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover of the social app. Threads work exactly like Twitter and come with a bunch of similar Twitter features.
Just like Twitter, It is primarily oriented around text conversations. Posts are called “threads” (not “tweets”), each post (“thread”) is limited to 500 characters, and you can also quote and “repost” other users’ Threads – just like the “retweet” and quote features on Twitter.
Since its launch, Threads has generated a lot of buzz, getting 30 million users 24 hours after its launched, and it has continued to gain traction ever since.
In this article, we’d like to show you 5 things you need to know about Threads before you signup to use the app.
Related:
- Quitting Twitter? Here are Top 5 Alternatives to Try
- Threads: What is this Twitter Clone? Why is it a big deal?
5 Things You Need to Know About Threads
1. You Must Have an Instagram Account to Use Threads
At the moment, to create an account on Threads, you need to already have an Instagram account. If you don’t already have an account, you will need to first create one before signing up on Threads. Note that you can not create an Instagram account from your Threads app. We can only wait and see if this rule will change as Threads continue to grow.
2. Deleting Your Threads Account Means Deleting Your Instagram Account
In Threads privacy policy, Meta says: “You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.” What this means is, to delete your Threads account, you’d need to first delete your Instagram account.
3. Usernames on Threads are directly linked to your Instagram account and cannot be changed
Now, because you have to link an Instagram before you can use Threads, usernames on Threads are directly linked to your Instagram account and cannot be changed. To change your Threads username, you’d need to first change your username on Instagram and it’ll be reflected on Threads.
4. No support for direct or private messaging or chat on Threads
At the moment, Threads does not have any feature for direct or private messaging or chat, as you would see on both Instagram and Twitter. But who knows? We might get the feature in the new future. Until then, you can only use the @mention option to get the attention of other Threads users.
5. Currently, no option to “Verify”
There is currently no option to “verify” on Threads. At the moment, only users that are already verified on Meta’s other social media platforms can carry their verification badge to Threads when they signup.
In conclusion, if you’re not satisfied with what Threads has to offer and you’re worried about your privacy, here are other Twitter clones you should consider.
