Last week Meta launched Threads, a rival social media platform to Twitter. While it has certainly stirred a reaction from Elon Musk, whose company Twitter is now threatening to sue the new kid on the social block, the new app captured the attention of 30 million sign ups within 24 hours.

These include major brands and celebrities from Netflix to Sarah Jessica Parker and Oprah. It also won’t come as much of a surprise to many to learn that the social media Queen, Kim Kardashian was one of the first to download the app.

Its user base is expected to continue to grow fast thanks to Meta already having two billion Instagram account holders, users who are able to link their accounts directly to Threads

So, what is all the fuss about Threads, also now nicknamed the ‘Twitter killer?’

Well firstly you must have an Instagram account to sign up. At HeadOn, we found it super quick and easy to set up thanks to the link to Instagram. However, on this point, it’s worth noting that if you then want to close Threads you will also have to delete your entire Instagram account.

As a text-based conversation app, it has definitely got the same look and feel as Twitter. You’ll spot that Threads has the same heart-shaped like symbol and the facility to be able to repost. There are subtle changes like Threads calls a retweet a ‘repost’ and a ‘quote’ to reshare with your thoughts instead of a ‘Quote Tweet.’

Tap on the share icon and you can add your Threads to your Instagram story and share on Twitter. You can follow accounts as the norm, and there’s a neat bell icon at the top right if you want to be alerted to when an account posts a new thread.

Meta also said in its statement that “future versions of Threads will work with the fediverse”, enabling “people to follow and interact with each other on different platforms that we don’t own or control”.

This means users won’t need to sign up to Threads to be able to view and interact with Threads content from non-Meta accounts. Users of Threads can follow and be followed by people using different servers on the fediverse. Reports say that Threads could then function the same way as WordPress, Mastodon and email servers – wherein users of one server can interact with others.

So, should your business already be embracing this new channel as part of its social media management and strategy? Almost likely, especially if your brand already has a presence on Instagram and Meta delivers on its aspirations.

However, Twitter lawyers are accusing Meta of ‘deliberately assigning’ former Twitter employees to develop what they describe as a copycat app, accusing Meta of “systematic” and “unlawful misappropriation” of trade secrets. It’s a fight that doesn’t look like either side will back down any time soon so it will be interesting to see how Threads plays out considering this legal storm as well as how users feel about this new social sphere.

If you would like more advice on ways to use social media to amplify your brand and build your customer base, contact us on hello@headonpr.co.uk or check out our social media services.