Hello tech savvy readers, if you’re following the social media trends then you already know about the epic tech battle of all time that is going on right now! Yes, we are talking about Twitter VS Threads, battle between two giant social media taking place for the past few days. Although we are not certain about the cage fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, however, they have brought themselves out in the battle field against one another with Twitter and the latter Threads. We are going to give you a breakdown of the battle, features of two most hyped social media platforms.
Threads
Threads grew to 2 million sign ups in just the first 2 hours, and then 30 million sign ups the morning after its launch. No social media app in the history of mankind has achieved these numbers. While most people are calling it a copy paste of Twitter, the Threads app has more to it. We are going to break down this historical event and what it means to people who revolve around different platforms of social media daily. So, dear tech enthusiasts! Let’s dive in the main post.
First of all, let’s look at the numbers, because they never lie! or seems so. It took Netflix three and a half years to reach the first one million followers, Twitter two years, Facebook ten months and two and a half months for Instagram. Until now, the shortest amount of time record of gaining one million users was in the grasp of ChatGPT, only five days.
Now, the million-dollar question! Can Threads beat Twitter? The answer to this question is, yes! It may. It has the potential to overtake Twitter. However, there are few ifs and buts to consider. To answer this question, first, we need to make a comparison between these two.
About Twitter
Twitter was a microblogging and social networking service that revolutionized the way of our communication when it was first launched. Twitter, founded in 2006, which enables its users to post and interact with messages known as ‘tweets’. With over 300 million monthly active users, Twitter used to be the hub for real-time news updates, trending topics, and engaging conversations, be it public or private.
The heart of twitter is its timeline, a chronological feed that displays the tweets from accounts you follow. Tweets can contain text, photos, videos, GIFs, and even polls, making it a versatile medium for expression.
Now let’s look at some key features that were Twitter’s unique feature, until Threads came into the scene.
Key Features of Twitter
Hashtags
Hashtags allow users to categorize their tweets and make them discoverable by others interested in the same topic. From #TechNews to #TravelTips, hashtags help you find relevant conversations and join in the discussion. Hashtag has been one of the striking features of social media platforms. We have even seen a few social and political movements building on just hashtags. From individual usage to business usage or even social usage, hashtags were one of the most alluring features of twitter. Let’s look at Threads now. Although Threads do not have this hashtag currently, but we can hope it may have updates with hashtags, as it could be a gamechanger for the future of this app.
Retweets
Retweeting is a way to share someone else’s tweet with your followers. It amplifies content, spreads information, and encourages conversations to go viral. Going viral on twitter has been one of the main goals of many businesses and celebrities. There are even tons of studies and research on that matter. And the retweet feature of twitter was one key aspect of that as well. However, good news for Threads users is that it has a similar mirror-like option called Repost. Repost works almost the same as Retweeting. It may attract big businesses and pull in the celebrities or socialites to use Threads.
Likes
Liking a tweet is a simple way to show appreciation or agreement. It also helps you bookmark tweets for future reference. Threads scores another point here. Threads have the same feature as well.
Replies
Twitter thrives on conversations. You can reply to tweets, engaging in public discussions and connecting with other users. Reply threads allow for extended conversations and deeper engagement. Threads got your back there also. Threads have added the same replies feature on its interface. And you can just reply to your friends, colleagues to make a conversation.
Direct Messages
Twitter’s direct messaging feature allows users to have private conversations with one another. It’s a convenient way to connect, collaborate, or simply have a one-on-one chat. Threads is still in second place in this regard. It does not have any direct message option available yet. And to say, it’s not yet, but it may include the direct messaging option and go one step forwards towards the win.
Now look at the important features for content creators, businesses, influencers and digital marketers.
First of all, Promotion. Content creators can leverage Twitter to promote their latest videos, blog posts, or products, reaching a wide audience and driving traffic to their platforms. As twitter has a feature of paid promotional service, Threads haven’t included anything like that yet, it isn’t also featuring any advertisement on its platform yet. The latest news we got until now claims, Zuckerberg saying, Threads will not have monetary features till they hit 1 billion users. However, that doesn’t seem so far away considering the number of growths its having right now.
Next comes Real-Time Engagement. Twitter excels in real-time engagement. Whether it’s a live event, breaking news, or trending topics, Twitter allows content creators to interact directly with their audience, fostering meaningful connections. Threads have successfully executed this feature under their hood. Which adds another point in the scoresheet of Threads.
Community Building is another key aspect in the list of features for Twitter. By fostering conversations and engaging with their audience, content creators can build a dedicated community on Twitter. It’s a place where fans can connect, provide feedback, and feel closer to the favorite creators. Building community is also the central aim for Threads. And it’s already got almost all of the features that are needed for building communities online.
At this point, discussing a few user experience features and comparison between these two global giants are maybe what you all are waiting for.
Now let’s come to the faceoff. Could threads kill Twitter? Very possibly, yes. As Instagram and Threads are kind of complimentary, anybody who has an Instagram account, can make Threads account in a few clicks. This is going to pull in a massive number of users for Threads. Also, on a special note, you should remember that other products of Meta corporation, like Facebook killed Myspace, Instagram killed Snapchat, just after copying their features and doing it better. It’s not a new thing for Zuckerberg’s company to do a similar thing in better ways than what’s already being done.
One of the biggest features of Threads is that your friends are there. It basically means that when more people use a product or service, its value increases. Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, more than two times that of Twitter and in the last few days, most of those users have seen stories from their friends of this new thing called “Threads”. So they’ve seen all their friends going on to Threads.
While Elon and the media were focused on the cage match, Threads app came in and capitalized on all of this hyped-up attention. And that’s not the only thing. Elon Musk, in order to save costs. Enforced a rate limit on Twitter recently. Meaning that, if you’re an unverified account, you can only see 600 tweets. And if you’re completely new and unverified, you can see just 300 tweets. This made many Twitter users unhappy, and Threads launched at the exact time to provide an alternative to Twitter.
Last but not the least, the design of the threads app. Once you get on the threads app and use it, the design feels familiar.