Threads, a much-anticipated alternative to Twitter that launched yesterday, has more than 23 million signups. The application is quite similar to Twitter, but it lacks a crucial component: a feed that only shows updates from the individuals you follow. The app currently just has one feed, which displays postings from both users you follow and those you do not. Twitter, on the other hand, offers a “For You” feed and a “Following” feed.
In response to requests for a Following feed in Threads, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated that it was “on the list” of features the site wished to include in the future. In reaction to a post from YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Mosseri made the remark. It makes sense for Threads to include a “Following” list view, just like Twitter does, in addition to the algorithmic feed by default.
The capability to move between various Threads accounts and the capability to edit posts are other features that Mosseri mentioned are “on the list.” Mosseri added that the software currently lacks a few fundamental features, like the ability to search hashtags. Although users have requested the ability to double tap to like a post, Mosseri noted that Meta tried to implement this, but that there was a problem because you need to be able to tap on a thread in order to open the full thread, and that “you don’t want to have an element that you can both tap and double tap.”
Users of Instagram may log in to Threads using their pre-existing credentials and submit brief updates that can be up to 500 characters long and contain text, links, images, and videos that are up to five minutes long. At launch, Threads is accessible on iOS and Android in 100 nations, but not in the EU, purportedly because of worries about complying with local data privacy laws.
Instagram’s new app will soon support ActivityPub, the same social networking protocol used by open source Twitter rival Mastodon and other federated apps, whereas Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter rival Bluesky has been growing in popularity in recent months by leveraging its own decentralized protocol, the AT Protocol.
Users must authenticate using their current Instagram login information before they may view Threads. Their current account information, including name, username, photo, and followers, will then populate the app. The new app will carry over verification as well.
