Meta has launched Threads, a text-based social media app that links to your Instagram account, and is also a competitor for Twitter. As the latter continues announcing numerous changes that led to widespread belief that the app is becoming unusable, Meta has swooped in and released an alternative for those willing to migrate. On its launch day, users appear to be more “civilized” than unhinged.
To celebrate day one of Threads’ launch, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg shared a thread (no pun intended) welcoming everyone to the platform and shared his vision for the new platform. He hoped that Threads would become a “friendly space for conversation” and looked forward to seeing people experience the new app.
“The vision for Threads is to create an open and friendly public space for conversation. We hope to take what Instagram does best and create a new experience around text, ideas, and disccussing what’s on your mind. The world needs a friendly public space for conversation. If we do this well, then Threads can be that space. We’re going to stay focused on that as our north star”
Upon entering the app, users might see brands and accounts that they didn’t follow on Instagram on their timeline. The influencers, who were the early adopters of the platform back in May, gave their warmest greetings to everyone who was hopping on board the platform. While all seems friendly, at least for now, users noticed that Threads did have some missing features.
On the other hand, brands and companies did not hesitate to show how “hip” and “in touch” they were by sharing memes about their first day on the platform. Not going to lie, these day-one memes were spot on.
While people were having fun exploring the new platform, one user did ask a bold question — “Has anyone checked on Elon?” Based on Musk’s tweets of late, it doesn’t seem that he has been bothered by a bit of competition. So for now, we assume he’s all good.
Day one on Threads might have felt weird, especially since for the time being it’s only app-based and doesn’t have a browser version. Users also can’t collect links to share posts outside of the platform. But it is no secret that people were making the move to the new platform, and only time will tell if Threads is going to succeed or not.
While it was pretty weird to see everyone be all nice and welcoming, it reminded us that the internet could be a less toxic place if we all worked together to make it happen. Especially since we’ve gotten used to social media being a very divisive place to be. But then again, this is the internet, so expect all that warmth to be thrown out the window probably within the next few days.
If you wanted to join Threads, it is now available on the Apple and Android app stores.