This is bad news for Twitter owner Elon Musk: Meta’s service, which is closely linked to its own network Instagram, is a direct challenger for Twitter. In a first reaction, Musk criticized the “false happiness” of Instagram. According to him, however, there will be honest discussions on Twitter: “It is infinitely better to be approached by a stranger on Twitter.”
Can Threads become a real alternative to Twitter? What functions does it have? When will the service be available in Germany? The most important questions and answers.
Threads is closely tied to Instagram, which is dominated by photos and videos, but resembles the text-heavy Twitter in many functions and design. Zuckerberg makes no secret of it, as a self-deprecating Twitter post showed – the first of the Facebook founder in eleven years. Zuckerberg shared a well-known meme, an image of Spider-Man and a copycat pointing at each other. The picture is often used on Twitter to express something like “That’s exactly the same thing!”.
This copying of Twitter is a strategic decision, says Josef Raasch, head of the Berlin agency Wlo.social: “Twitter users want to leave the platform, but they don’t want to start from scratch and they want their new digital home to look familiar.”
But there are small differences. For example, posts on threads with 500 characters can be much longer than on Twitter, which allows 280 characters. You can use links, photos or videos up to five minutes in length in thread posts. With Twitter, only a little more than two minutes are possible.
The differences serve a purpose – to attract people to Twitter’s free version. Because if you want more freedom on Twitter, you have to pay. Subscribers can write entire essays of up to 10,000 characters or publish entire feature films with videos of up to two hours. So far there has been no talk of a payment model for Threads. Unlike Twitter, Meta is mostly highly profitable and has large reserves.
Another difference: there is no limit to the number of posts you can read. Musk limited this to 1,000 per day on Twitter a few days ago to prevent bots from siphoning off data.
When will Threads be available in Germany?
The short message service is being launched in more than 100 countries, but not in the EU “in the foreseeable future”. According to Matt Navarra, social media analyst from London, it will be a matter of a few months before Threads is also available in Germany: “The market is too important and Threads needs as many users as possible.”
Until then, interested parties can view posts in the web browser, but cannot become active and distribute likes, for example.
The hope that threads can be reached in Germany via the decentralized “Activitypub” protocol via Twitter competitor Mastodon has not yet been fulfilled. Meta wants to introduce the protocol later.
Why is the EU excluded?
The reason for the delay is unresolved regulatory issues. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri told the US tech medium The Verge that “complying with some laws that will take effect in the coming year is difficult”. He is probably referring to the Digital Markets Act, which, among other things, makes it more difficult to combine data from different services.
That hits the core of Meta’s business model. The group collects as much data as possible for precise advertising placement. “Oh my goodness,” wrote one user on short message service Mastodon, alongside a screenshot of Threads, “check out the personal data ‘maybe’ being collected by Threads, Meta’s new Twitter clone.”
The “maybe” refers to the app’s permission to access very sensitive information on the smartphone: health data, transactions, contacts or even the search history. The final comment: “A data protection nightmare.” Just last May, Meta was fined €1.2 billion for violating EU data rules.
What chance does thread have?
According to analyst Navarra, data skimming does not deter users: “Other services like Twitter are hardly any better.” Users are also used to this form of data skimming, as is the case with Instagram, which is closely linked to threads.
The star power of prominent Instagram users should also help: singer Shakira, the Dalai Lama, talk show star Oprah Winfrey, all were at least offered access to threads in advance. Corporate brands that are strong on Instagram, such as the streaming services Netflix or HBO, were also given access. Together, all of these few user accounts have a good 140 million followers.
By tying into Instagram’s social network with its two billion accounts, Threads offers a major incentive for new users. “This is a crucial point,” says expert Raasch, “because one of the biggest hurdles for Twitter users who want to leave the platform is the prospect of having to start over in a new place.”
More: Meta plans frontal attack on Twitter with new app.