Since getting purchased by Elon Musk, Twitter has been in a highly-publicized tailspin.

Between staff cuts, unpopular feature changes, public disputes with reputable media entities, and declining traffic and ad revenue, the platform has had a tumultuous year.

One thing Twitter hasn’t had to deal with in its 17-year history is direct competition. While there are plenty of other popular social media platforms, they all serve different purposes.

Instagram, traditionally a photo-based app, is a place to share visual content. Facebook is for communicating with people you already know and engaging in groups. TikTok has a unique hybrid of video and audio content for entertainment. YouTube focuses strictly on video. But Twitter was the only major platform offering real-time text updates and microblogs from a variety of sources all in one feed.

The introduction of daily limits created a sense of urgency for frustrated Twitter users who don’t want to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription to find an alternative. While apps like Mastadon and Bluesky have been on the scene, barriers to entry have prevented Twitter users from migrating to these apps en masse. However, over the past few weeks, a few new standouts have emerged.

 

Then Came Threads, Meta’s Twitter Alternative

Zuckerberg did what he does best, launching a Twitter look-alike app called Threads under the Meta umbrella. So far, audiences are into it — in just under a week, Threads has racked up over 100 million users.

While crossing the 100 million user mark in under a week is quite impressive, it’s worth noting the app’s clear integration with Instagram played a huge role in its early success. To join Threads, users must have an active Instagram account. They can log in with their Instagram credentials, and their same username, bio, and followers are imported into threads.

The interface of Threads looks very similar to Twitter. The platform encourages conversational posts that can have up to 500 characters. One major difference between Twitter and Threads is the latter’s effort to de-center conversations related to politics and polarizing topics in hopes of creating a more positive user experience (though that may be hard to do as we get closer to major elections).

Now that Threads has launched, a few questions that come to mind are:

• How will the user experience of the app change as advertising enters the mix?
• So far, the Threads launch has been technically smooth, scaling to 100 million users without any major glitches or hiccups. But if we face another #Instagram down situation, will Threads go down with it?
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• While Threads has been able to quickly acquire users, will it be able to retain them?
• Spill feels like a good place to build niche communities through sharing meme-worthy content.
• Threads is better for creating text-based posts to cross-post on Instagram (which is full of Twitter screenshots).
• Threads appears to be the stronger platform for marketers, brands, and content creators who never found their footing with Twitter because they can start with a built-in audience. Allowing their same followers to gain text-based insights into their content can be great for conversation beyond Instagram DMs and overall brand-building.
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And most importantly… 

Will Threads fully replace Twitter?

Despite its early success, Threads remains a relatively bare bones app. It’s still missing many of the features users like about Twitter, such as a desktop version, direct messaging, trending topics and the option to edit posts.

Threads doesn’t also  have any timeline that shows posts only from accounts that you follow. The home timeline is algorithmic and it is a mix of posts from accounts you follow and other folks.

While Threads may not fully “replace” Twitter, it’s the best contender for those who are more interested in discourse than visuals. With the launch of Threads, traffic to Twitter has taken a noticeable dip though it’s still too soon to tell how the launch of new competitors will impact Twitter in the long run.

But Meta executives have already teased plans to continue building out Threads.