Threads: What’s up with the New(est) Social Media App and Why I’m a Tad Skeptical
As much as I wish Threads was a new virtual shopping assistant that analyzed my size and style for free and helped my millennial self catch up with current trends in a cheap yet sustainable way, it’s not. (But someone should create that!) Nope, sis, Threads is another social media app. And I say that with a bit of a sigh and hefty amount of side eye. Do we really need another social media app? Debatable? Want, welp, it looks like a ton of people do! Threads is a new app created by Mark Zuckerberg and is connected to Instagram pulling your login and account info from there and making it possible to post to both apps seamlessly. It also curates who you follow based on your Instagram follows. To summarize, Threads is a platform where posters can share a quick thought and people can like or reply, creating a “thread.”
Sound familiar? Yes, it’s meant to be a competition with Twitter which has had a controversial presence in the last couple years even though it remains one of the most used apps. Some feel that Twitter has become hostile and teeming with misinformation. Threads is meant to be a “friendly” spot on social media, only time will tell how that holds up or devolves. People are saying that overall it’s more upbeat with a positive, lighthearted vibe and that it’s easier to use as far as replying to things goes. It can also be a spot for information gathering rather than content creation; this was a point that caught my attention as that could be helpful in the event of natural disasters, elections, and other things that impact a large amount of people. But I’ll be honest, my presence on social media in general is to find and share book recommendations and recipes.
I’m usually a pretty late adopter with new trends. I only downloaded Tik Tok within the past year, and even then, my feed is all musical clips and millennial fashion updates and I for sure don’t post anything myself. Heck, I still use Pinterest! But for whatever reason, I got curious and signed up for Threads which was super easy as it’s linked to my Instagram page. (I did hear that if you delete Threads, you delete Instagram, but that they’re going to change that soon.) So far, it seems fairly similar to Twitter in its format. And even though your feed is drawn from Instagram, I don’t love that anyone and everyone shows up there, rather than picking who you follow, although blocking those you’re not interested in is easy.
I have some friends who’ve jumped on the bandwagon, but many others who are meeting this with my same hesitancy. For me, the reality is I do not need another app to distract me from my life. I recently put time limits on my social media apps to help me not waste so much time on my phone. I want to be more present and as of now, I am really not seeing much benefit to joining another social media platform, especially one where endless scrolling seems to be the key. So while I did download it, I am skeptical and approaching with caution. Honestly, I’m wondering if the hype is because it’s new and shiny. In addition, celebrities and influencers were able to join early and have been sharing about it with abandon — I even heard a rumor there was monetary compensation, but I think that’s false — but we certainly are in a time where we tend to tag along on things that become trendy or have a high influencer presence. I do appreciate that as of yet, there are no ads on Threads. I’m also sure it’s better for our brains to be reading captions rather than watching an endless amount of short videos, right?
