Chances are if you’re a big user/fan, you’ve seen the platform shift and change in ways you probably haven’t loved over these past few months. Musk in the past few months has destroyed the social value of being verified with Twitter blue subscriptions, caused API changes that destroy or hinder popular apps like Tweetdeck and most recently, caused a tweet rate  limit, where if you view 600 tweets on a day, you won’t be able to view any more, literally making tweets run out for you, while limiting the chances of discovery and sharing for people who market or grow businesses through Twitter. It’s this last one that’s really pushed people over the edge, essentially making them sick of Elon’s changes and starting to look elsewhere.

Hence the rise of platforms like Mastodon, the controversial Truth social and now, Threads. And due to having the weight, talent and resources of Meta behind it, Threads has by far taken off way more than the others and considering that it’s just passed 100 million users, it’s actually become an undeniable threat to Twitter, which by comparison, has only JUST passed 500 million active users. Simply put, from a purely competitive standpoint, Threads is the young rookie who has immeasurable talent, and while Twitter is the reigning champ, it definitely needs to watch his back. Now gaining a lot of users is one thing but how does the app actually feel to use? Well…it’s alright. It only takes a passing glance to know that this app is essentially the definition of “If Instagram and Twitter had a baby”. In that it definitely took its design from mostly Twitter, while you’ll have the followers and technological infrastructure from Instagram. This comes down to even sharing tweets …ahem.. sorry, threads , through your Instagram Story.

And of course this both these decisions have had their ups and downs. The obvious one is, copying Twitter’s design essentially got a few Twitter and Elon stans angry, not to mention Elon himself. But to be honest, how else could this have gone. Titter’s design was best for what the app is made for: threads of text and media where people share thoughts and opinions. And well, what better way to beat that design than to first copy it , especially if you want most of its user base, as well as introduce your Instagram users who don’t bother with Twitter to a Twitter-like experience. There’s also the….Instagram-ness of it all, which yes isn’t a word, but this app definitely feels like a spin-off of Instagram, and well for some users that may be a turn-off considering they probably try to escape Instagram from time to time, and using another app that feels like it might not be better, especially if there’s a lot of the same followers too. The other big issue however, is far less subjective. And that’s the fact that once you open a threads account, you’re basically unable to ever get completely rid of it. You can deactivate it yes, but deleting it would mean deleting your main Instagram account as well. Now it’s obvious why Meta is doing this; growth by any means. Forcing people to stay with a Threads account technically still counts as a win for the company, especially if right now all they want is numbers. It’s a classic move from Meta, the kind that does make one question if Zuck and crew are really the ones we want building our Twitter replacement.

And all this still doesn’t even answer the question of whether Twitter can or should be replaced. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad people are growing sick of Elon’s antics and thinking of alternatives. That rarely happens in tech to begin with, but whether it will happen to completion is another question entirely. After all while Twitter has never boasted the numbers of Facebook, one thing has kept it relevant : news and events. When it isn’t being the home of toxic relationship debates Twitter is by far the most reliable social media up to keep up with current events. Hence it’s emphasis on features like a trending topics tab. Features that at the moment, Threads hasn’t implemented. Now this might be by design, as Instagram executives have gone on to say Threads isn’t “about politics and news”, but considering that the app has built-in features to better share news articles, that definitely seems like a bit of a lie to make traditional Insta users happy. After all missing topics and trending news would probably allow Twitter a huge fighting chance, since the likes of Mastodon have failed to wrestle that away from it. And maybe that’s a good thing because while clearly it’s a bit of a mess now, Twitter got to where it is for a reason. People love it for a reason. Or at least they did. And letting Meta of all people grant us the alternative might end up not being better after all . Either way you’ll never see me say no to some competition, and honestly Elon and Twitter need some if they’re going to relent and hopefully act the way we want them to. And for now, that’s definitely what threads is. That and a …surprisingly civil version of Twitter. And that’s all I need it to be for now, hopefully whatever it becomes next is something I’ll need (or tell myself I need) as well.

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