A NEW STITCH IN THE DIGITAL TAPESTRY: THREADS

Prior to Wednesday, July 5 around 7 p.m., if you mentioned “thread” around me I would have guessed there was a loose string dangling off my clothes somewhere. Now…well… I still would probably think that. But my second guess would definitely be that you were referencing the new app from Instagram: Threads.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Meta has created another social media platform called ‘Threads’ made to rival Twitter. It’s been added to what I can only assume is a Thanos-like bejeweled glove. They own Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and now Threads.

Okay so for those of you who I’m losing here, Threads is directly linked to Instagram (and by default, falls under Meta’s ever-growing umbrella). It features short text posts called “threads” that users can post throughout their day. Followers will see a feed of threads and can like, repost, or reply to them. Basically, it’s like Twitter, and is the latest in a long line of insta-copies (Snapchat stories to IG Stories, Tik Toks to Reels, etc). But still, with CEO cage fights thrown in the mix, a rival app is honestly pretty tame - and expected.

When Twitter first launched, it took 2 years before they had a million users. For Facebook, it was 10 months. For Spotify, 5 months. Threads hit the milestone in just one hour. Of course, the pace of technology is much faster these days and our access to the internet is much greater. Regardless, it’s impressive. The real test will be to see if Threads can keep the momentum in the long run.

Threads already has a much different vibe than Twitter, in my opinion. My credentials being: I’m young enough to technically be Gen-Z but old enough to like have a real job that requires me to write blogs on stuff like this. Anyway, you can trust me.

Threads seems like it’s establishing itself as an Internet-safe space. Everyone seems calmer, nicer, more welcoming - a far cry from Twitter’s toxic wasteland of chronically online users cloaked in anonymity. I think, just like its sister app Instagram, there is an air to Threads that is a bit more performative, or showy. Perhaps it’s because everyone had a mass exodus through the in-app gateway set up on IG, causing us all to link our accounts directly, but Threads users seem much more careful about what they say compared to Twitter. You can find people much easier here than on Twitter, which is basically a black hole.

For this reason, I don’t think Threads will be able to keep its engagement up following this booming beginning. I wonder if the pendulum swung way too far the other way when Meta concepted its Twitter rival. Threads has a lot of happy posts, a lot of brand sponsorships, and a lot of recycled content. It’s fine for now, but I don’t see it being sustainable. While Twitter is undoubtedly inundated with bias, at least there are opinions. Threads is attempting to combine everyone’s curated Instagram personality with their harsh Twitter thoughts, and I think soon, things will begin to unravel.