Like many individuals nowadays, I’ve lastly moved on from X (previously Twitter) after all of the adjustments and controversies over time. X has lengthy been an disagreeable platform to hang around on, however Musk’s affect has severely ruined issues—and I’ve been dying for an alternate.
And I’m clearly not the one one, as options have been popping up everywhere. The most promising choices? The open-source Bluesky, which I’ve been pretty keen on lately, and Meta’s Threads. While each have amassed hundreds of thousands of customers, Threads stands out with over 275 million monthly active users as of late 2024.
So, I made a decision to make use of Threads for a month, checking in no less than as soon as a day, getting concerned in conversations, and posting my very own ideas, too. Here’s what I discovered about Threads over the previous few weeks of making an attempt it out, from the elements I wish to those I don’t.
What I like about Threads
Threads boasts a number of nice options, particularly for these of us who bear in mind Twitter in its early days. It looks like a extra refined model of Twitter, one which’s constructed with trendy sensibilities (and challenges) in thoughts. Here’s what I significantly like about it.
You don’t have to begin from scratch
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Unlike a lot of the Twitter options which have sprung up within the wake of Musk’s X acquisition, Threads is hooked up to a longtime social media firm with plenty of backing. Thanks to it being developed by Instagram—which, like Facebook, is owned by Meta—once you enroll to make use of Threads, you aren’t ranging from scratch.
Instead, you’ve the chance to instantly comply with everybody you’re already following on Instagram. This function doesn’t appear to be obtainable on the Threads internet app, however no less than on the cell app, you’ll be able to simply click on Settings > Follow and invite mates > Follow Instagram mates. Threads will even counsel folks to comply with primarily based on who you’re already following on Instagram.
This interconnectivity might or might not enchantment to you, however there’s no arguing its comfort so far as preliminary onboarding. On different social media platforms, discovering folks to comply with—whether or not they’re new to you or accounts you’re following elsewhere—is usually a friction level.
Threads has tons of energetic customers
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Another constructive of Threads over all the opposite Twitter-likes is the sheer variety of energetic month-to-month customers on the platform. As of January 2025, Threads had reached 320 million users, which compares extremely favorably in opposition to Bluesky, which solely boasts round 30 million customers. Neither can compete with X and its 650 million customers, however Threads is the clear winner out of the comparable options.
The variety of energetic customers on a social media platform actually issues. The extra folks, the extra exercise. The extra exercise, the extra all of it feels alive and significant. When you put up one thing, it’s extra prone to get in entrance of eyeballs, generate dialogue, and finally matter.
I’ve discovered this very true when replying to different folks’s posts. Whether I’m agreeing with somebody, calling them out for spreading misinformation, or simply making a joke, the engagement ranges are by the roof on Threads—much more engagement than there was on Twitter throughout its heyday, no less than for me personally.
Many high-profile accounts are already there
Dave Parrack / Foundry
I handled my exit from X as an opportunity for a contemporary begin, and subsequently didn’t routinely comply with everybody I used to be beforehand following on X on the newer platforms. For me, Threads (and Bluesky) represented a possibility to re-curate my social media feed expertise.
And but, it’s good to know that the majority of these huge accounts that I do know and love and have adopted for years—starting from celebrities to creatives to manufacturers to organizations—are all energetic on Threads. It lends legitimacy to the platform, which sadly isn’t the case but for Bluesky (although things seem to be moving in that direction).
What I dislike about Threads
As a lot as I like Threads, it’s removed from excellent—similar to every other social media platform. Launched in 2023, it’s now going through lots of the challenges that Twitter confronted earlier than Elon Musk accepted Jack Dorsey’s invitation to accumulate it. Here’s what I don’t like about Threads.
There’s approach an excessive amount of engagement farming
Dave Parrack / Foundry
If you aren’t acquainted with the time period, “engagement farming” is when folks put up purposefully incendiary, controversial, or manipulative materials on social media to spice up likes, shares, and discussions.
Engagement farming content material is designed to set off a response out of you. Rage bait is crafted to rile you up a lot that you just share the content material with others. Wholesome content material attracts you in and will get you to smash these like buttons. You might have additionally seen “Only geniuses can do this!”-type riddles that prey on an innate drive to show your self.
That is to say, engagement farming is disingenuous at finest and dangerous at worst. It’s an enormous drawback on X, but it surely’s additionally there on Threads. Fortunately, I haven’t seen a lot of it on Bluesky (but).
Many conversations flip unfavorable quick
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Another approach during which Threads is struggling as Twitter did earlier than it? The nastiness that recurrently emerges in conversations. While nearly all of persons are nonetheless nice and pleased to have interaction in civil discourse, some are fast to show nasty and sling negativity over the tiniest issues.
Unlike X, which appears to actively encourage uncivil discourse, Threads no less than tries to take care of some degree of civility. Along with the flexibility to report folks for taking issues too far, if you happen to your self attempt to put up one thing deemed unacceptable by Threads’ filters, the platform asks you to rethink earlier than hitting Send. (Sadly, few do.)
Feed customization choices are restricted
Dave Parrack / Foundry
Threads gives restricted methods to customise the way you browse posts. The normal feed is the “For you” feed, which lumps collectively posts from these you comply with and these you don’t however is perhaps focused on. There’s additionally a devoted “Following” feed with solely posts from accounts you comply with, plus “Liked” and “Saved” feeds. That’s it.
By comparability, Bluesky boasts multiple different feeds you could comply with, permitting you to actually customise what you see once you open the app. And in case you have just a little coding experience, you’ll be able to even construct your individual customized feed that others can comply with themselves.
Honestly, it’s no shock. Any social media platform developed by the likes of Meta/Instagram/Facebook was all the time going to limit the way you work together with the platform, but it surely’s nonetheless disappointing to see. Could Threads supply extra customization down the road? Maybe. Likely not.
Am I going to maintain utilizing Threads?
After utilizing Threads for a month, I now discover myself checking in on the platform a number of occasions a day. As social media is understood to do, when you’ve gotten over the training curve and invested your self within the platform, it’s tough to extricate your self from it once more. You begin craving for engagement, for extra conversations, for extra suggestions. And with Threads as huge as it’s, it gives probably the most of that (aside from X).
Therefore, sure, I will be sticking with Threads for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping the nice elements proceed to get higher and encourage others to jump over from X, and I’m hoping that Meta will make investments the fitting sources to cope with the platform’s ongoing points. There’s extra good than unhealthy proper now. My fingers are crossed that it evolves additional.