Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter rival passed 30 million signups overnight — here's how to use Meta Threads

Just sixteen hours aft launch, Instagram's text-based societal web Threads has already surpassed 30 cardinal signups, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said aboriginal Thursday. It was besides the apical escaped app successful Apple's App Store arsenic of Thursday morning.

The app is Meta's reply to Twitter, which has seen immoderate of its users and advertisers fly since billionaire Elon Musk acquired the societal media platform. On Saturday, Twitter began limiting the fig of posts users tin work per time to code "extreme levels of information scraping," which lone served to further frustrate users.

A fig of Twitter alternatives person emerged successful caller months, including decentralized messaging app Mastodon and Bluesky, which is backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. But neither level has been capable to lucifer Twitter's idiosyncratic basal and popularity.

Threads whitethorn person an easier clip attracting users. It's built connected apical of Instagram, and is automatically linked to a user's relationship connected the photo-sharing app. Initially, users could lone entree the work done a roundabout mode successful the Instagram app. But arsenic of Thursday, the app is disposable for download from Apple's App Store, and it's escaped to use.

Users are required to person an Instagram relationship successful bid to usage Threads. Once you download the app, it volition punctual you to login utilizing your Instagram account. From there, Threads volition automatically larboard implicit your Instagram username, but you tin inactive customize your profile.

Threads gives you the enactment to automatically travel each of the aforesaid accounts you travel connected Instagram, oregon conscionable a fewer of them, truthful that you don't person to painstakingly find each your friends and followers connected Threads.

Meta is pitching Threads arsenic Instagram's "text-based speech app." And successful galore ways, Threads looks precise akin to Twitter.

Users chiefly station text-based messages, oregon "threads," that are constricted to 500 characters each. You tin tag circumstantial users successful a thread by utilizing the @ awesome successful beforehand of their username. Users tin bounds replies connected their thread to lone their followers, oregon radical they've tagged successful the post. You tin besides see photos oregon videos successful a thread.

Threads whitethorn look a batch similar its rival, but it's missing immoderate captious features.

The astir glaring omission is nonstop messaging, oregon DMs. One-on-one, backstage messaging is simply a hallmark of astir each different large societal media network, including Twitter and Meta's ain Instagram and Facebook. Threads didn't motorboat with nonstop messaging, which tin airs a occupation for journalists, who often person messages from imaginable sources, oregon brands, which tin connection lawsuit work done societal media messaging.

The Threads provender pulls successful posts from each users, not conscionable the ones you follow. It tin beryllium hard to find the contented posted by the users oregon brands that you've followed, and arsenic of now, there's nary mode to alteration the mode the provender loads.

Like Instagram, Threads isn't serving up posts successful a chronological order. Content is seemingly algorithmically ranked and served up to users nary substance what clip its posted.

There are besides nary paid ads successful Threads, yet. Many brands person already joined up, though. Instagram caput Adam Mosseri, who oversees the caller app, told the Verge that advertizing would beryllium a "champagne problem" if Threads is capable to scale.

Threads besides lacks the quality to see hashtags successful posts. Hashtags are a halfway diagnostic of Twitter, and person made it casual for users to observe posts nether a definite topic, arsenic good arsenic aboveground trending contented successful 1 place. Similarly, Threads doesn't person a diagnostic that allows users to hunt for circumstantial substance oregon phrases.

Another cardinal differentiator is that Threads doesn't person a desktop website, truthful you tin lone entree the work via iOS oregon Android apps.

There's besides 1 important downside to Threads being linked to Instagram. For now, Meta says there's nary mode to delete your Threads relationship without besides deleting your Instagram account.