Twitter vs Threads: Key Differences and Feature Comparison

Meta kept its promise and launched its own version of Twitter this summer under the name Threads. The development of the product began in January 2023 and was finished on July 5th. The new application immediately gained popularity, with over 10 million people downloading and installing it within the first 7 hours. Just 5 days after its release, the app reached the milestone of 100 million downloads.

Threads is rightfully considered the main competitor of Twitter, because the novelty largely duplicates the functions of the good old social network, which has recently undergone a rebranding and lost the legendary “blue bird”. However, these applications also have several important differences, which we will consider below.

The fact of competition between the companies and applications is further confirmed by Elon Musk's reaction. It was reported that Musk sent a letter to Meta's CEO, complaining about the illegal use of Twitter's trade secrets. The fact is that Meta hired former Twitter employees. Musk suspects that these people may have used sensitive information in the development of a competitor's app.

Moreover, links to Threads have received a shadow ban on Twitter, as reported by The Verge. To find such a post in a social network search, you need to put a space between “threads” and “net”. Otherwise, the system displays a message stating that no results were found. Clearly, Elon Musk (Twitter) takes the threat from the new social media platform very seriously.

Let's finish the introduction and move on to comparing these two social networks.

Differences between Threads and Twitter

These differences pertain to the registration process, post publishing, technical aspects, and some other moments.

The ways of use

Initially, Twitter was created as a web-based platform. After gaining immense popularity and with the mobile experience surpassing the desktop one, the company developed mobile applications for iOS and Android, giving users the freedom of choice.

Users of Threads don’t have such freedom, at least not now. Threads is a platform exclusively for mobile devices, and there is no website version. This could be a temporary situation, but the fact remains. The downside for enthusiasts of web versions is that Threads is integrated with Instagram. You won't even be able to go through the registration process without having an account on this social network. As we know, the web version of Instagram significantly lags behind the mobile version. Consequently, it's unlikely that Threads developers will devote much attention to the website, if they decide to do it at all.

Registration

Twitter positions itself as a standalone social media. To start using it, you simply need to create an account in the classic way.

Threads, as mentioned earlier, is closely tied to Instagram. You cannot create an account on the new social network if you are not an Instagram user. Even more critically, you won't be able to delete your Threads account in the future without deleting your Instagram account. The only option will be deactivation, which means your Threads account will continue to exist within the Threads environment.

Fee for Usage

It's widely known that the era of free Twitter has passed. After Elon Musk bought the company, he changed the terms of use for the social media. Now, to obtain the Twitter blue check, you need to pay a fee. However, it's not just about verification. Along with the blue check, you gain access to additional features. For example, paying users don’t see ads, they can create posts with a higher character limit.

What about Threads? Mark Zuckerberg also didn't miss the opportunity to monetize his social media. However, there is a significant difference. If you buy the service for $8, you will only get the verification badge, nothing more. All the features of the social media are available for free, and all users are equal. In the meantime, Twitter limits the functionality and incentivizes users to pay money.

As we discuss Twitter, it's worth mentioning that many users purchase ready-made accounts instead of creating new ones. If you wish to do so, you can buy Twitter accounts on our website in Twitter section. Here, you'll find accounts with phone number and email verification, as well as accounts with varying numbers of followers and more.

Post Length

Perhaps the main difference between these two social medias is the difference in the length of the posts. Twitter allows expressing thoughts using a maximum of 280 characters. This limitation can be lifted by subscribing to Twitter Blue. Users perceive this limitation differently. Some of them like the idea of creating short posts that can be quickly read, while others find the 280-character limit restrictive. It leads them to add further thoughts in comments to their own posts.

Threads allows users to create posts up to 500 characters, which is almost twice as much as the free version of Twitter.

Search Capabilities

From this perspective, Twitter undoubtedly takes the lead. This social media offers a broad search functionality. Firstly, you can find relevant content through hashtags or keywords. Secondly, you can find content creators using their account names, and so on.

Threads significantly limit users in this aspect. You can only find an account based on its account name or username. For example, if you want to find interesting posts about the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, you cannot simply enter the project's name. Instead, you must know which user is publishing posts about it.

The feed also differs. Threads users see posts from various accounts, regardless of whether they follow them or not. Twitter, in this regard, is more flexible. You can switch between two feeds: the first one shows your subscriptions, while the second one displays “everything”.

As of now, Threads holds a significant advantage in terms of having no advertisements in its feed. However, it's unlikely that Meta will opt out of the monetization through advertising in the future.

Post Promotion Speed

This is a subjective factor that has not yet been confirmed by factual data.

Experience shows that tweets can become super popular literally on the day of publication, especially for users who have gone through Twitter verification. If you have published something interesting, and this information has received an active response from other users, most likely the algorithms will multiply your success very soon.

Threads, at this stage, cannot boast such a principle of operation. Posts here gain popularity more slowly and organically, without active involvement of the social network's algorithms. Again, the situation may change in the future, as Threads is still in its early stages of development.

Difference in Target Audiences

Due to the character limit, Twitter is perceived by users as a platform for getting information on the go. You can spend 10 minutes and read several interesting posts.

Threads has a different positioning. It serves as a platform for deeper and more detailed posts.

Neither can be called an advantage or a disadvantage. It's a matter of preference and how people use different social networks. For example, Twitter works well for sharing breaking news, announcements, and brief thoughts on various topics. Threads, for instance, can be useful from an educational point of view, and in terms of discussing issues with more context.

Interacting with Posts and Threads

Twitter allows us to like and retweet individual tweets and replies to them. Therefore, you can only share one point of view of one person. If your subscribers want to see the entire thread, they will need to go there.

Threads allows users to like and retweet entire threads, not just individual comments and posts. About Multimedia

Both Twitter and Threads allow users to share multimedia files on the platform, such as videos, images, and GIFs. However, Threads excels in this aspect. The new social media allows users to attach up to 10 multimedia elements to a single post, resembling an Instagram carousel.

Twitter only allows four files to be published. Therefore, if you wish to add more multimedia, you will have to supplement the list in the comments section of your own post.

Conclusion

For now, it's difficult to say whether Threads will become a serious competitor to Twitter, especially because, as mentioned above, social medias have slightly different target audiences. In addition, everything will depend on how Mark Zuckerberg is ready to develop the novelty.

Mike Proulx, Director of Analytical Research at Forrester, stated that Threads shouldn't be given too much credit. According to him, firstly, the growing popularity of the new social media is connected to the trust crisis in Twitter after Elon Musk's arrival. Secondly, Proulx reminded that various projects have tried to dethrone Twitter in the past, but all ended in failure. For example, he mentioned Mastodon, Hive, Bluesky.

However, an indisputable fact is that Threads has significant positive features, as discussed above. Therefore, this social network does have potential. Let's watch the development of events, it will be interesting.