Threads: Is Twitter's biggest rival here to stay?

Facebook and Instagram company Meta launched its new app ‘Threads’ this morning and with 10 million signs ups in the first 7 hours since being released, it’s been projected to become a serious and direct rival to Twitter.

But will the Threads app stand the test of time and be here to stay? And will it take the majority of users away from Twitter altogether?

Our marketing team have used the app, created a company account for the B2W Group and have provided their feedback, answering some key early questions you may have about the new social network.

Is Threads easy to set up?

One of the big plus points for Threads is just how easy it is to download and set up a profile. After downloading the Threads app, you’re prompted to sync it to your Instagram account. Alternatively, you can open up the Instagram app, go to your menu and you’ll see the Threads icon. Simply click on this and follow the steps to set up and sync.

This then automatically applies your profile picture, bio, website link and asks if you’d like to follow the same accounts from Instagram over on Threads, so you won’t need to manually search for your friends, family and others that you already follow on Instagram.

Providing that they’ve set up a Threads account too, you’ll be automatically following the same people, brands and influencers over on the new platform.

We found this to be a big pro for Threads, as we were able to download the app and set up a profile for our B2W Group account in just a few minutes.

Can you follow Trends & Topics on Threads?

We were disappointed to find that there was no way to search for or follow certain topics, trends or hashtags on Threads.

This is something which Twitter, Instagram and TikTok does very well – using hashtags to see what others are posting about a certain subject is incredibly useful.

However, seeing as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has described the launch as “round one”, we believe it’s only a matter of time before new, additional features such as topics and trends is added to the app.

What does Threads' design look like?

After you’ve signed up and are presenting with your “feed”, the first impression is that the app looks refreshingly simple.

An all-white background is used, with a clear and simple font used for text. It’s very pleasing on the eye and makes posts easy to digest.

Is there a character limit to your posts on Threads?

Although the app is intended to create a series of short posts that are connected to each other (i.e. a “thread” of information), there’s still a healthy limit of 500 characters per Thread.

This could be considered a con, as research points to findings that users better engage with short, punchy posts rather than endless paragraphs.

But for now, we believe it gives us greater flexibility in order to post what we’d like and as intended, without being restricted to 280 characters as with the free version of Twitter.

Can you edit your posts on Threads?

Threads doesn’t yet have an option to be able to edit your posts. This was always a useful feature of Twitter before it was only made available for “Blue Tick” subscribers, as you could correct any typos/spelling errors.

We were hopeful that Threads would launch with this feature included, but as with the trends and hashtags features we mentioned, it could be something that is added to the app over time.

Can you post videos on Threads?

Yes, you can post both videos and pictures to Threads. We were sceptical about the length of videos you could post, but Threads has announced that you can post video content up to 5 minutes long.

To test this, we uploaded a two-minute video. To do this, you simply click on the paperclip icon, which takes you to the gallery on your device to select your desired media. To our surprise, the video uploaded quickly and in full.

We then attempted to upload the same video to Twitter, and found that the video is clipped to 45 seconds. This is due to Twitter’s new Blue Tick incentive, where users can subscribe to the verification service and unlock additional features, one of them being able to post longer videos.

How do I set up a company Threads account?

If you currently have an Instagram account for your business, it’s a fairly straight-forward process. Simply download the Threads app from the Apple or Google play store on your device, and you’ll be prompted to either sign in using your Instagram profile, or create a Threads account from scratch.

By syncing Threads to your existing Instagram account, you’ll be able to pull through key assets such as your profile picture, bio, website link and the option of automatically following the same users from your Instagram account who’ve also joined Threads.

If you don’t have an Instagram account for your business, you can simply set a Threads account up via the app, although you’ll need to manually search for any users you’d like to follow and start to build up a following of your own over time.

Conclusion - Threads is a nice alternative to Twitter, but still needs some work

We believe Threads is around 75% there as an app to genuinely rival Twitter.

If it was to introduce the ability to follow trends and topics of interest, and an “edit” button to alter your posts, then it would be a solid winner for Meta.

Time will tell if users, brands and other companies make the switch over to Threads and ditch Twitter completely.

Our Threads account is here: @theb2wgroup_

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