Instagram takes on Twitter with Threads, now live on Android and iOS

Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, is now live and available for download on Android and iOS. The app is linked to Instagram, so you’ll need an account on Instagram before you can log into Threads. When you sign up for the new app, your user name and verification status will be ported over from Instagram. You’ll also be able to follow the same people you do on Instagram or choose who you’d like to follow manually from a list of suggested accounts. You can set your Threads profile to public or private, depending on your need.

You can post text, videos, and photos on Threads. 500 is the character limit for posts as opposed to Twitter’s 280-character limit for non-Blue subscribers. Conversations on Threads can be “threaded” under each post and comment. You can also view the number of replies and likes a post gets as you scroll through your feed.

Just like Twitter, you also have the ability to ‘Repost’ and ‘Quote’ a Thread. Moreover, you can cross-post a Thread to your Instagram story and feed. There’s even a sly option in there to share links for a Thread on Twitter.

Your Threads feed will display content from those you follow on Instagram and Threads. You’ll also see recommendations for discovering new content. You can also restrict who can mention you in their threads, replies, or bios.

Is Thread a true Twitter alternative?

That said, some Twitter-like features are still missing from Threads. For instance, there’s no option to send DMs to other Thread users or post GIFs. You also don’t have the ability to switch accounts in the app, if you use multiple Instagram accounts. Perhaps the biggest omission is that there’s no support for hashtags, so no way of tracking trends on the platform. We might see Meta add these and other features to the platform over time, but it’s unclear when and if that will happen.

Meta plans to make the Threads app a part of the fediverse, a social network of different servers operated by third parties that are connected and can communicate with each other. Fediverse servers that run on the same protocol can talk to each other. Threads will use a protocol called ActivityPub to talk to other servers that support this protocol. That means in the future, Threads users will be able to communicate with people on other fediverse platforms like Mastodon that Meta does not control.