I attempted Instagram’s X rival, Threads, for a month… and I sort of prefer it?
Like many individuals lately, I’ve lastly moved on from X (previously Twitter) after all of the adjustments and controversies through the years. X has lengthy been an disagreeable platform to hang around on, however Musk’s affect has significantly ruined issues—and I’ve been dying for another.
And I’m clearly not the one one, as alternate options have been popping up all over. Essentially the most promising choices? The open-source Bluesky, which I’ve been fairly eager on these days, and Meta’s Threads. Whereas each have amassed hundreds of thousands of customers, Threads stands out with over 275 million month-to-month energetic customers as of late 2024.
So, I made a decision to make use of Threads for a month, checking in a minimum of as soon as a day, getting concerned in conversations, and posting my very own ideas, too. Right here’s what I discovered about Threads over the previous few weeks of attempting it out, from the elements I wish to those I don’t.
What I like about Threads
Threads boasts a number of nice options, particularly for these of us who bear in mind Twitter in its early days. It seems like a extra refined model of Twitter, one which’s constructed with fashionable sensibilities (and challenges) in thoughts. Right here’s what I significantly like about it.
You don’t have to begin from scratch
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Not like a lot of the Twitter alternate options which have sprung up within the wake of Musk’s X acquisition, Threads is hooked up to a longtime social media firm with loads of backing. Due to it being developed by Instagram—which, like Fb, is owned by Meta—if you join to make use of Threads, you aren’t ranging from scratch.
As an alternative, you have got the chance to right away observe everybody you’re already following on Instagram. This function doesn’t appear to be out there on the Threads internet app, however a minimum of on the cellular app, you’ll be able to simply click on Settings > Comply with and invite buddies > Comply with Instagram buddies. Threads may also counsel individuals to observe primarily based on who you’re already following on Instagram.
This interconnectivity might or might not attraction to you, however there’s no arguing its comfort so far as preliminary onboarding. On different social media platforms, discovering individuals to observe—whether or not they’re new to you or accounts you’re following elsewhere—generally is a friction level.
Threads has tons of energetic customers
Dave Parrack / Foundry
One other optimistic of Threads over all the opposite Twitter-likes is the sheer variety of energetic month-to-month customers on the platform. As of January 2025, Threads had reached 320 million customers, which compares extremely favorably in opposition to Bluesky, which solely boasts round 30 million customers. Neither can compete with X and its 650 million customers, however Threads is the clear winner out of the comparable alternate options.
The variety of energetic customers on a social media platform actually issues. The extra individuals, the extra exercise. The extra exercise, the extra all of it feels alive and significant. While you put up one thing, it’s extra more likely to get in entrance of eyeballs, generate dialogue, and finally matter.
I’ve discovered this very true when replying to different individuals’s posts. Whether or not I’m agreeing with somebody, calling them out for spreading misinformation, or simply making a joke, the engagement ranges are via the roof on Threads—much more engagement than there was on Twitter throughout its heyday, a minimum of for me personally.
Many high-profile accounts are already there
Dave Parrack / Foundry
I handled my exit from X as an opportunity for a recent begin, and due to this fact didn’t mechanically observe everybody I used to be beforehand following on X on the newer platforms. For me, Threads (and Bluesky) represented a chance to re-curate my social media feed expertise.
And but, it’s good to know that almost all of these large accounts that I do know and love and have adopted for years—starting from celebrities to creatives to manufacturers to organizations—are all energetic on Threads. It lends legitimacy to the platform, which sadly isn’t the case but for Bluesky (though issues appear to be transferring in that path).
What I dislike about Threads
As a lot as I like Threads, it’s removed from good—similar to some other social media platform. Launched in 2023, it’s now going through most of the challenges that Twitter confronted earlier than Elon Musk accepted Jack Dorsey’s invitation to amass it. Right here’s what I don’t like about Threads.
There’s method an excessive amount of engagement farming
Dave Parrack / Foundry
When you aren’t conversant in the time period, “engagement farming” is when individuals put up purposefully incendiary, controversial, or manipulative materials on social media to spice up likes, shares, and discussions.
Engagement farming content material is designed to set off a response out of you. Rage bait is crafted to rile you up a lot that you just share the content material with others. Healthful content material attracts you in and will get you to smash these like buttons. You will have additionally seen “Solely geniuses can do that!”-type riddles that prey on an innate drive to show your self.
That’s to say, engagement farming is disingenuous at greatest and dangerous at worst. It’s an enormous downside on X, however it’s additionally there on Threads. Thankfully, I haven’t seen a lot of it on Bluesky (but).
Many conversations flip detrimental quick
Dave Parrack / Foundry
One other method wherein Threads is struggling as Twitter did earlier than it? The nastiness that usually emerges in conversations. Whereas the vast majority of persons are nonetheless nice and joyful to interact in civil discourse, some are fast to show nasty and sling negativity over the tiniest issues.
Not like X, which appears to actively encourage uncivil discourse, Threads a minimum of tries to keep up some degree of civility. Together with the flexibility to report individuals for taking issues too far, should you your self attempt to put up one thing deemed unacceptable by Threads’ filters, the platform asks you to rethink earlier than hitting Ship. (Sadly, few do.)
Feed customization choices are restricted
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Threads presents restricted methods to customise the way you browse posts. The usual feed is the “For you” feed, which lumps collectively posts from these you observe and these you don’t however may be excited about. There’s additionally a devoted “Following” feed with solely posts from accounts you observe, plus “Favored” and “Saved” feeds. That’s it.
By comparability, Bluesky boasts a number of completely different feeds you could observe, permitting you to really customise what you see if you open the app. And when you’ve got a bit coding experience, you’ll be able to even construct your individual customized feed that others can observe themselves.
Truthfully, it’s no shock. Any social media platform developed by the likes of Meta/Instagram/Fb was all the time going to limit the way you work together with the platform, however it’s nonetheless disappointing to see. May Threads provide extra customization down the road? Perhaps. Probably not.
Am I going to maintain utilizing Threads?
After utilizing Threads for a month, I now discover myself checking in on the platform a number of instances a day. As social media is understood to do, when you’ve gotten over the training curve and invested your self within the platform, it’s troublesome to extricate your self from it once more. You begin craving for engagement, for extra conversations, for extra suggestions. And with Threads as large as it’s, it presents essentially the most of that (other than X).
Due to this fact, sure, I will be sticking with Threads for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping the nice components proceed to get higher and encourage others to jump over from X, and I’m hoping that Meta will make investments the suitable sources to cope with the platform’s ongoing points. There’s extra good than unhealthy proper now. My fingers are crossed that it evolves additional.
