Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday, July 5, the official launch of Threads, an app built by the Instagram team for text-based conversations.
Officially called “Threads, an Instagram app”, and already touted as a rival to Elon Musk’s Twitter, the app claims to provide an independent area for public chats and real-time updates.
“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” Instagram said in a description of Threads on the Apple App Store.
The goal of Threads will take what Instagram, which has more than a billion users, does and apply it to text in order to create a space where users can share their thoughts.
Much like on Instagram, Threads users can connect with friends and people who share interests, including those followed on Instagram and beyond.
Here are the 9 terrific things about Threads!
1. Default secret profile for under-age users
Users can start using Threads by logging in with their Instagram account. One can also modify their profile exclusively for Threads while keeping the Instagram username and authentication.
Everyone who joins Threads under the age of 16 (or under the age of 18 in some countries) will have a secret profile by default.
Users can opt to follow the same profiles they follow on Instagram. Threads has enabled all of the key accessibility features that are already present on Instagram, including screen reader support and AI-generated image captions.
2. 500 characters long
User feed on Threads consists of threads written by users they follow as well as suggested material from up-and-coming authors.
According to a statement, links, images, and videos up to five minutes long can be included in posts up to 500 characters long.
A Threads post can be quickly shared to an Instagram story or can be shared as a link on any other sites as well.
3. Tune out the noise
Threads claims to be designed with features that encourage positive, fruitful conversations. Within Threads, users can have control over who can mention or respond to them.
Similar to Instagram, users can add hidden words to their threads to exclude comments that include specific words.
By pressing the three-dot menu, one can unfollow, block, restrict, or report a profile on Threads. Any blocked profiles on Instagram will also be blocked on Threads.
4. Safety
Treads mentions in a statement that it will take safety seriously and will uphold Instagram’s Community Guidelines for interactions and content within the app.
“Since 2016 we’ve invested more than $16B in building up the teams and technologies needed to protect our users, and we remain focused on advancing our industry-leading integrity efforts and investments to protect our community,” says the company.
According to a privacy statement mentioned in the app store, Threads can gather information from users linked to a wide range of categories, including health and fitness, finances, contact information, search history, and transactions, among others.
5. Suited with interoperable networks
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organisation in charge of the open standards that drive the modern web, created ActivityPub as the open social networking protocol. “We are planning to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub,” says Threads.
This would make Threads interoperable with other apps that also support the ActivityPub protocol, such as Mastodon and WordPress, allowing new types of connections that are simply not possible on most social apps today.
Threads says, “We’re committed to giving you more control over your audience on Threads – our plan is to work with ActivityPub to provide you the option to stop using Threads and transfer your content to another service.”
“Our vision is that people using compatible apps will be able to follow and interact with people on Threads without having a Threads account, and vice versa, ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks.”
“If you have a public profile on Threads, this means your posts would be accessible from other apps, allowing you to reach new people with no added effort. If you have a private profile, you’d be able to approve users on Threads who want to follow you and interact with your content, similar to your experience on Instagram.”
6. Open social networking protocols
According to Threads, open social networking protocols have several benefits outside of just allowing users to follow one another.
Developers can create new features and user interfaces that are simple to integrate into other open social networks, speeding up experimentation and innovation.
Since each compatible app can establish its own community standards and content control guidelines, users are able to select settings that are consistent with their beliefs.
“We believe this decentralised approach, similar to the protocols governing email and the web itself, will play an important role in the future of online platforms,” says Threads.
“We hope that by joining this fast-growing ecosystem of interoperable services, Threads will help people find their community, no matter what app they use.”
7. Available in 100 countries
More than 100 nations can use Threads and residents in those nations can get the app by visiting the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
The app may not be initially available in the EU, however, the plans for expansion into the region are in the works.
8. Other features of the app
Features of the Threads app include integration with the close friends list of Instagram; a straightforward messaging interface is provided for private talks; sharing current activities, whereabouts, and mood via status updates; integration with Close Friends Story for sharing exclusive content; and Blocking, muting, and other advanced privacy measures for users, among others.
9. The feed!
Similar to how Instagram operates, the main feed on Threads combines posts from persons the user follows with recommendations for related material. There doesn’t seem to be a way to switch between streams of stuff that is suggested and content that is just seen by followers, unlike Twitter.
“Soon, we’ll be adding a number of new features to help you continue to discover threads and creators you’re interested in, including improved recommendations in the feed and a more robust search function that makes it easier to follow topics and trends in real time,” says the company.
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