Meta have released their NEW social platform “Threads” – which is a Twitter competitor app, falling under the “Instagram” umbrella at Meta/Facebook. I’ve jumped in and had a little play around with it and here’s the key info you might need to know about it
Post Types
- Can post up to 10 images, in a carousel (like Instagram)
- Can post 1 video – seems to be any format (1×1/9×16/16×9) but will keep eye on it
- Also can post text posts like Twitter/FB (which is something you currently can’t do in IG)
Other Info about Posting:
- Character limit is 500. (For comparison, Twitters limit is 280)
- Similar to Twitter you can “thread” multiple posts together if you have even more to say over 500 characters.
- Currently NO accessibility options – No way to add ALT text or SRTs.
User Experience:
- Sign up is super easy IF you have an Instagram account already. It reserves your username, and you can import your profile image, bio, and following instantly on sign up.
- Once logged in the social feed is a mix of who you follows posts and suggest posts/accounts. Similar to the “For You Page” on TikTok, it’s built to get topics you’re interested in in front of you – rather than just friends.
- BUT there’s been mentions of a “following only” feed being added at a later date (like on Instagram’s settings)
- Clickable hashtags for search are not a thing.
- There’s no post view limit – you can scroll as much as you like.
- It’s currently focused on app, although believe desktop will be arriving later (as had leaked earlier this week!)
Paid Social:
- Have done some searching and currently can’t see any info about the viability of Ads on this platform.
- Assumption is we will at some point be able to boost posts and add posts to feed in multiple media formats similar to Instagram.
Brand Usage:
Some brands have already jumped in and dropped their first posts. I’ve dropped a few examples below for vis!
- Entertainment: Netflix, Channel 4
- Gaming: CivGame, Xbox, XboxGamePass
- Media: Pubity, Verge