As you’ve likely heard, a new social media channel has joined the fray. Threads is a text-based conversation app focused on live chat and content sharing and has been designed to sit alongside Instagram.
Forget the arguments between the two billionaires behind X (formally known as Twitter) and Mark Zuckerburg’s Meta Platform (owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads), this new platform has been designed for real-time conversations and sharing which will be familiar to Twitter users.
What is Threads?
Originally launched in 2019 by Instagram, Threads was designed for chat and video sharing, but was closed two years later.
Following the change in ownership of Twitter and some of the changes it introduced, the Meta Platform looked again at developing a new-look version.
The idea was rebooted and had 30 million users in 100 countries within the first day of its launch on July 5, making it the fastest-growing platform in history. Within five days, that number had grown to more than 100 million users.
Ten quick facts about Threads
- You need to have an Instagram account to use Threads.
- As of July, if you delete your Threads account, your Instagram account will be deactivated.
- It is currently only available on iOS or Android devices.
- You can post updates, share text, images and videos, and interact with other users’ posts via likes, reposts and replies.
- The product is being marketed as a kind and friendly place—something social media platforms have historically struggled to do.
- Your user name and profile will automatically be the same as your Instagram account, but you can change it.
- You can choose to follow the same people as on your Instagram account.
- There is no advertising on the platform, although that is likely to follow.
- Posts can be up to 500 characters in length and can include links, photos, and videos up to five minutes in length.
- You can easily share a Threads post to your Instagram story, or share your post as a link on any other platform you choose.
How is it different from other social media channels?
The experts have seen Threads as a direct competitor to Twitter offering live conversations and shares, with engagement happening through likes, replies and shares.
One of the benefits of Facebook and Instagram being owned by the same company (Meta) is that your accounts can be closely aligned and can be managed in the same place. Threads accounts have been designed to sit with Instagram accounts as a live chat add-on.
How do I join?
You need an Instagram account to join Threads. By default, Threads and Instagram accounts share the same username, profile picture, and display name (although these elements can be customized).
You can also choose which Instagram accounts you want to carry over to Threads.
How is Threads useful for artists?
As artists, we tend to focus on social media as a selling tool and use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter to help us raise our profiles and ultimately create sales of our work.
But there is another important element to social media—and that is purely about communication. Artists often work in isolation and have found social media a great tool for communicating and sharing with peers.
Through Facebook and Instagram groups, Twitter threads and follows, artists are able to connect with other artists working around the world. Threads, the platform, has been designed to offer real-time conversation and sharing, which makes it a great communications tool for artists. Instagram is all about the visual, putting work out there and seeing what people think by way of follows and shares. But think about how you would chat with artists in a group studio: asking practical questions, problem-solving, brainstorming or sharing experiences and advice. This is the potential of Threads for artists.
Another main aim is to create a safer place. You can control who mentions you or replies to you within Threads. Like on Instagram, you can add hidden words to filter out replies to your threads that contain specific words. You can unfollow, block, restrict or report a profile on Threads.
Will it last?
Threads is a brand-new social network and there are legal entanglements ongoing. Ultimately, its positioning as a live chat add-on to Instagram makes it easy to use and unlikely to be disappearing anytime soon.
There are dozens of social media platforms, and it would be a full-time job to keep posting on them all. The trick is to choose the ones that work for you and keep up to date with them.
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