Is Threads Any Good? Here's What People Are Saying About Meta's Potential 'Twitter Killer' On Launch Day

Threads, Meta's much-ballyhooed potential rival to Twitter, launched late yesterday afternoon and picked up tens of millions of subscribers in a matter of 24 hours.

The app's sudden growth and financial backing have clearly made Elon Musk and other Twitter execs nervous — hours before the writing of this article, it was reported that Twitter is already threatening to sue Meta over the app's similarities to Twitter already.

There's a lot of drama (and memes) surrounding Threads right now and a lot of eye-popping numbers, all of which may serve to obscure a perhaps more important question for the average person who just wants a decent microblogging app that isn't bogged down with increasingly bizarre changes.

Is Threads any good?

What Is Threads?

Threads functions extremely similarly to Twitter, but its onboarding process arguably has an advantage over some other Twitter rivals. Threads is tied to a user's Instagram account and users can instantly access a list of people to follow by importing the people they follow on Instagram (as well as their profile).

From there, the app functions almost identically to Twitter. Users can like, reply to, or repost "threads" on the app, as well as share posts out to their own Instagram stories or even to Twitter. One key difference is that Threads does not allow for DMs at this time. There are also no trending topics to browse, unlike Twitter.

How Do People Feel About Threads?

Threads drew some lukewarm reactions on its launch day among a mix of those who either love it or hate it, due in large part to the fact that many opened Threads to discover their timelines were algorithmically generated and they could not find posts from the people they actually followed (think Twitter's "For You" tab with no "Following" tab).

i’m on threads. it sucks pic.twitter.com/Vh7gSUwef3

— leon (@leyawn) July 6, 2023

However, at the time of writing, that appears to have changed, as the timeline is now purportedly showing posts from followed accounts (and there is no "algorithmically" generated timeline).

Users have also expressed frustration at the lack of a desktop site (which may hinder the spread of potential memes on the platform), as well as a strict policy against mature content, in line with other Meta apps like Facebook and Instagram. This has been met with disapproval from Twitter's art community, which usually thrives on adult art memes and trends.

Could Threads Overtake Twitter?

There is also a lot of cautious optimism surrounding Threads' potential as a "Twitter Killer," as it's been billed by many. Several users have (on Twitter) expressed that what amounts to a Twitter clone with stricter content guidelines and a general distaste for Musk and Twitter under his reign could help Threads truly overtake the app.

It's worth noting that the same thing was said about Bluesky, which technically is still in beta and can only be accessed via invite codes, which has cooled the initial buzz around the app.

Some challenges Threads faces are that it is currently unavailable in Europe due to ongoing regulation concerns. In addition to Threads missing out on a huge potential user base, non-European Threads users will not be able to use the app to keep up with European news from people on the continent.

Then there's the question of this lawsuit that may be looming over Meta's head regarding Threads.

Twitter is currently accusing Threads of poaching former Twitter employees to help build Threads, which would be in violation of federal and state law, as well as those former employees' NDAs. Meta has denied any wrongdoing at the time of writing, but it could become a focal point for the battle between the two apps in the future.

For more information on Threads, check out its entry on Know Your Meme.