Wilma C. Inventor-Miranda l July 26, 2023 l Business Mirror
SOME people may not yet be familiar with Threads but the recent news about Threads having 100 million users in just five days and 10 million users in less than 24 hours had me wondering what has Meta got in Threads that millions signed up in just five days compared to Twitter’s first few days.
I have a Twitter account. I opened it years before since I want to follow then US President Barack Obama. But I am not so excited with it as I am with Threads right now.
I am like Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram and Threads, who has indicated he wants to stay away from breaking news and politics. Like him, I have enough stress for the day to add more news and politics to my feed. So Twitter is not just for me.
But what is in Threads that attracted more users and who is bent on winning in this battle of the giants in social media?
First: is easier to open an account in Threads. You just have to go to your Instagram account and you will be able to use the same profile since Meta owns both Instagram and Facebook. The second reason is Threads was introduced at the right time when Elon Musk is facing criticisms from Twitter users and followers.
Recently, Elon Musk started limiting how many tweets users can view. Twitter also has a management tool called TweetDeck—used for scheduling tweets—only limited to paid accounts.
Why should one go to Twitter when you are required to pay while in Threads you are free to scroll and text up to 500 characters (compared to Twitter that has only a maximum of 280 characters).
There are downsides to Threads, too.
For instance, you cannot delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account. And you cannot interact with your friends in the European Union because Meta decided to not launch Threads in the EU due to regulatory concerns.
I am not really into Instagram because I do not want my profile to be public. I have posts that I only want my friends and not the public to see.
I am not fond of Twitter, too. Threads gave me an opportunity to post contents for the public to see without them looking at my personal pictures and events. In Threads I plan that my posts will only be quotes, which are related to my Threads name account (also my Instagram account), which is @wilmaworkingwomanworld@threads.net.
I am scared to go public in Instagram because I can see friend requests from people who may even be fictitious. I also have posts that include pictures showing personal activities.
I find it funny—my curiosity can sometimes lead me to adventurous acts. I opened an account just yesterday to see how this Threads thing goes and how it can be so easy to open one. True to what people say – I opened an account with such ease in a just a few minutes.
There were just a few friends in Instagram that I saw in Threads; maybe because I have only a small circle of friends in my Instagram account compared to my Facebook account. And most people are not yet familiar with Threads.
The battle is still ongoing and only in the future will we be able to see which of the two applications will really win. Will it be Twitter of Elon Musk or Threads by Mark Zuckerberg?
Or will we be caught by surprise when a new application will suddenly appear and bag the prize over Twitter and Threads?
Your guess is as good as mine.
*** Wilma Miranda is the 2023 chairman of the ethics committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. She is also a managing partner of Inventor, Miranda & Associates, CPAs and a member of the Board of Directors of KPS Outsourcing Inc. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror.