Note: This was written 7/6/23, the day of Threads’ launch. Any new updates or changes to the app may not yet be reflected in the article.
Recently, Twitter announced a new system that limits the number of tweets people can view each day. How are we supposed to doom scroll with a view limit? Millions of people started posting angry and confused tweets about the situation. It’s a shame we can’t see them all, you know, because of the view limit.
While Twitter users were sharpening their pitchforks and preparing for a mob, Instagram saw their opportunity to swoop in.
Today (July 6th, 2023) Instagram has just released a new alternative to Twitter, Threads. Threads defines itself as a new app for “sharing text updates and joining public conversations.”
According to Meta (Instagram) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, after only 16 hours of being launched, Threads hit over 30 million sign ups.
Now, I want to start off by saying that this app was quite literally JUST launched.
There is no way that I expect the app to be anywhere near perfect, nor do I expect it to be perfect within the next several months.
That being said, it’s pretty obvious that Instagram rushed to launch the app before it was ready. In order to jump on the anti-Twitter bandwagon, Threads was released with some major issues.
For example, they quite literally won’t let you delete your account. Unless, of course, you also want to delete your Instagram account.
“You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.”- Threads Private Policy
Not to mention that you can’t create a Threads account unless you already have an Instagram account. This means that a user who doesn’t want an Instagram account simply can’t use the app. At this point, Instagram is only catering to their existing audience, making the platform inaccessible to any new members.