The social media tech world was literally aflame this week when Mark Zuckerberg posted about the Instagram-built text sharing app, Threads. This massive announcement came after a horrible week of Elon Musk sharing tweet rate limitations for users on Twitter and people naturally jumped onto Threads like nothing seen before! Within less than 10hours of Zuck’s announcement, 10M users had downloaded the app. But actually, this was a smooth and easy move seeing that Instagram already has billions of users. And to be quite frankly, we are all tired tired of Mr. Musk’s attempts at digital dictatorship.

Threads is very much like Twitter where users get to share texts to a public audience or a private and closed one. Users can repost, reply, comment, follow their favorite creators and old followers from Instagram as the app pulls in a users data from Instagram allowing you to choose who to follow. So whatever a user wants to say without having to post can now be said on Threads. A user has 500 characters per post and can add a photo, link or video to a thread post. Instagram users have more to say now without having to bother about finding the best photo for speaking your mind. Just thread it.

If you are new Threads and considering getting on it, this guide is what you need to walk you through the process; from installation to useful screenshots of the interface.

1. Installation and Setup

   Threads is free to download and available on both iOS and Google PlayStore for mobile devices ( mobile phones and tablets).

2. Logging into Threads.

   As this is an app by the Instagram team, sign in is super easy as the app involves signing in with your existing Instagram account or if you don’t have any, creating a new one. Setup your profile page with a new bio or import your existing bio from Instagram which actually saves time. However, if you want to use your Threads account for a different strategy , then create a bio which reflects that goal. Add a blog link or link to your e-commerce site in your profile.

3. Privacy Settings

   You can control your privacy on Threads by setting your profile to Public or Private. A public Threads account means anyone in the world can access what your post (text, photos & video) whilst a Private profile means only your selected followers have access to your content giving them exclusivity.

   • To change your privacy settings; go to Edit Profile and tap on the Private Profile to switch it on. Once that’s off it’s a public profile.

   The app also allows you to control your feed by muting some accounts, reporting or blocking accounts you’d rather not see in your feed. Also you can choose who you’d want to view your thread by selecting “Anyone can reply / Profiles you follow or accounts you mention in a post.”

4. Posting a Thread

To post a thread , simply tap on New Thread, which opens up the compose box. A user has 500 characters per post and can create several thread under that initial post. Attach either a link, photo, video or GIF to express your thoughts to your followers. As described earlier, you can choose who you want to reply to your thread. At the moment, the app doesn’t have a camera feature to enable you to take a photo or video for attaching to a thread, only uploads from your device to the app. Share your thread to various platforms with the share button. Any thread you post gets seen by anyone on or off the Threads app especially if you have a public profile.

5. Switching Between Threads & Instagram.

Being an Instagram built app, it’s such a seamless experience switching between Threads and Instagram. To go to your Instagram profile, click on the Instagram icon at the top right corner of Threads.

Switch from Instagram to Theads using the count handle beneath your Instagram username.

The count handle is a temporary badge by Instagram to show your user signup number to the app.

6. Messaging

The app doesn’t have a messaging feature at the moment so forget about your crush sliding into your DM. This may be coming to an update near you.

7. Threads Timeline

The timeline for Threads is currently not in a chronological order and you are bound to see content you have zero interest in. Don’t forget you have a Block or Mute button to control the gossip mongers and clout addicts on Threads. Users need to be given a list of topics / interests to choose from for their timeline stream.

Finally, hashtags don't work on Threads, a feature I'm sure will be added soon . Also Threads is yet to have Insights or an Analytics feature for measuring content reach.

As a business you should consider what your content strategy is before downloading the app. Don't just jump in there and get stuck on what to say 🫢.

The app is such a photocopy of Twitter and I love it for Instagram which unashamedly also copied TikTok in UI & UX design. The game is the game right? 😜

Interesting facts to note:

Threads has had 100M ‘organic’ signups in less than a week.

TikTok reached 100M users in 9months

ChatGPT reached 100M users in two months.