Twitter gives you the option to toggle between an algorithmic and chronological-based feed of only people you follow. Your Threads feed will be algorithmic, which means it will be populated by a mix of people you follow and recommended content much like Instagram now. You can write short posts of up to 500 characters that include links, photos, and short videos up to five minutes in length. “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” Instagram’s parent company, Meta, wrote in a company blog post on Wednesday.įunctionally, Threads is similar to Twitter, with some minor differences. The app will start to go live for users in 100 countries, although reportedly not in the European Union (more on that later).

The Threads app was initially expected to launch later this month, only to be moved up to this Thursday, and now, to today. So Meta-owned Instagram decided to strike while the iron is hot. While there are some alternatives out there, like Mastodon and Bluesky, none have grown to surpass Twitter’s popularity with a critical mass of politically and culturally influential figures. Last weekend, the company started limiting the number of tweets people can read, a questionable business decision that was widely unpopular with users. Many social media users are ready - desperate even - for a solid Twitter replacement, as the app has been going through a particularly rough phase in what many see as its gradual product degeneration under Elon Musk’s leadership. Instagram’s much-hyped new Twitter-killer app, Threads, is here.

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