- While some youngsters see potential for the social media platform to find its niche, many find its current features to be too intertwined with Instagram
- Within the first five days of its launch, Meta’s text-based rival to Twitter already amassed 100 million users
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As all Threads accounts are linked to Instagram profiles, the app’s lack of anonymity is a key difference from Twitter. Illustration: ReutersWhen social media platform Threads launched last week, 16-year-old Ingrid Chan swiftly downloaded the Instagram spin-off to check it out.
The Hong Kong student was among the 100 million users who joined Meta’s latest microblogging platform within the first five days of its launch.
However, the German-Swiss International School pupil told Young Post that she was quickly disappointed by the app’s plain layout and boring content.
“It’s kind of pointless,” Ingrid said, adding that she preferred sticking to Instagram where she enjoys watching reels and keeping up with friends.
“What people post on Threads can be obtained similarly through Instagram stories or notes ... There is nothing to use Threads for.”
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Drawing on Instagram’s 2-billion-strong user base, Threads is Meta’s text-based rival to Twitter, which has faced backlash since Elon Musk took over the platform last October. Twitter has threatened to sue Meta Platforms – which owns Instagram and Facebook – and has accused them of stealing trade secrets to build Threads.
Users of Meta’s new app can write threads with up to 500 characters, as well as links, up to 10 photos and videos up to five minutes long.
As all Threads accounts are linked to users’ pre-existing Instagram profiles, the app’s lack of anonymity is a key difference from Twitter. Once someone has opened a Threads account, there is no going back without deleting the associated Instagram profile. Users can only deactivate their Threads profiles.
Angel Ho, 16, uses Twitter to interact with other people in fandoms and educate herself about social issues, and she said she would never switch to Threads because of the lack of anonymity on the platform.
“On Twitter, you’re screaming into a black void. Twitter gives you an [alternative] persona, but Threads takes that away. It’s so much more personal on Threads,” the student from Harrow International School Hong Kong explained.
“Anonymity is important for people like me who have a niche or special interest. It’s nice to have an online space where you can find like-minded people without having people in real life possibly making fun of you for it.”
The teen believes many young people will not even bother downloading Threads. “We already have enough [social media apps], and we don’t need more,” she said.
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For Paolo Chung, 16, Threads has become just another option for entertainment when he is bored, but he said he wouldn’t be dropping Twitter any time soon.
“Threads is better if you are bored and just want to know about how your friends are feeling, but Twitter is better if you want to take a break ... [for] better entertainment and escapism,” the student from La Salle College said.
On Threads, he posts “intermittent, incoherent rants”, but Twitter was better for “lively debate and discussion”.
When compared with other social networking apps, Paolo said Threads lacked distinctive characteristics: “[it] is simply too connected to Instagram.”
Ingrid agreed with Paolo, saying she would be sticking to Instagram for now, but if more of her friends started actively posting on Threads, she would consider using it regularly.
Still, the teen said she thought Threads had the potential to become more popular: “As influencers and public figures move into the app, its user community will solidify and grow more.”
“Hopefully, Meta will also improve the functions and policies of Threads to ensure it thrives beyond its immediate competition with Twitter.”