Threads V. Twitter: A Casual Comparison

What's up? 

A little while ago, I posted about the release of Threads, asking people for their opinions on the app and how it compares to the big player, Twitter. After posting the forum thread and reading all the comments, I downloaded both Twitter and Threads to compare the experiences. I'd like to note that I hadn't used Twitter before trying Threads. Though I had a Twitter account, I never understood how to use the app, lol.

This will not be a full-blown article review of the app; I will be more focused on Threads. It'll be more of a pro/con list to put both apps on the same playing field. I'll also provide more context. A lot of the listings will be opinion-based as well. Thank you so much for reading!

I dont think my friends will stay on the platform

When I created my Threads account, it gave me the option to auto-follow everyone on my Instagram account, but I chose not to. As a result, I had to follow people manually, and out of the 250 accounts I follow on Instagram, only around 5 of my personal friends are using Threads, and just 3 of them use it regularly. Interacting with my friends is the main reason I use something like Instagram, so the scarcity of familiar faces discourages me. I doubt many people will stay at a party that has none of their friends.

No following list is kinda whack 

This is probably the main complaint I've seen people have, and I understand why. Initially, I really wanted Threads to have a following-only feed, but to be honest, I've found a solution that works for me – I just block the accounts that annoy me, and that's been pretty effective for curating my feed. It's reduced the number of celebrity and random talking head posts, thank god.

On the other hand, I almost exclusively use the following-only feed on Twitter. I absolutely hate the regular feed; it's just full of rage bait, and it becomes so tiring. The following feed has made Twitter usable for me, but it can get a little stale since I don't follow many people.

My friends are already on it 

The best way to make me hate social media is by shoving a bunch of B-list celebrities and washed-up late-night hosts into my timeline. Every single one of these suits can be thrown in a ditch, and I wouldn't care less. Thank god for the blocking/muting button because now the app is usable.

Twitter is much more focused on Twitter personalities, with the most common posts on my timeline being stolen memes and rage bait. It's just as tiring, but at least I'm not seeing traditional celebrities.

Too many celebrities' on Threads fucking up the timeline 

The best way to make me hate social media is by shoving a bunch of B-list celebrities and washed-up late-night hosts into my timeline. Every single one of these suits can be thrown in a ditch, and I wouldn't care less. Thank god for the blocking/muting button because now the app is usable.

Twitter is much more focused on Twitter personalities, with the most common posts on my timeline being stolen memes and rage bait. It's just as tiring, but at least I'm not seeing traditional celebrities.

No account parody on Threads 

When I created my Threads account, the first thing I tried to do was have the same following list on both Twitter and Threads. However, what I noticed is that barely anyone I care about is on Threads. Most of the YouTubers I like either post much more on Twitter or don't even have a Threads account in the first place. This is really disappointing for me.

Threads users don't annoy me 

What I mean is that there aren't a lot of random terrible takes popping up in my timeline. Plus, nobody spams their comments with sex toy ads. The comments also don't have a bunch of irrelevant memes that just ruin any conversation. ALSO, there's no K-pop stan spamming their bad music tastes in the comments. THANK FUCKING GOD. That alone keeps me off Twitter.

Threads has picture carousel 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the limit of images on Twitter is 4, while threads can hold a lot more. It also displays the images better, instead of pressing them all together to make the grid. Threads instead just display the image entirely and you can swipe to the left to see the next picture. It just copies the instagram carousel and I like that. 

Threads users are super optimistic 

I don't know why, but I keep seeing posts on my feed of people celebrating Threads' existence and expressing how happy and positive they are while using it. It seems super forced and weird to me. However, I guess I saw the same thing on Twitter, but with a bunch of people dog-piling on Threads' existence, stating they'll never leave Twitter's arms. It's like a clash between New Loyalty and Old Loyalty.

There's nowhere to save Threads 

I cant save any posts or check what I've liked in the past. There were some interesting articles I wanted to read but nowhere to find in it the future. I use the command browser and Vivaldi sync for articles now. 

Cant scrub video

It's really awkward that even a month later, there's still no way to simply scrub through a video on Threads. If I want to rewatch a specific part, it looks like I'm forced to rewatch the entire video.

DashieXP posts more on Threads 

Nothing else. Just interesting that him and Doja Cat are the only influencers that use Threads more than twitter. 

Threads doesnt allow porn 

This was a really controversial topic when I looked at Twitter responses. But, personally, I prefer not being blasted with porn every time I want to read some comments. I don't need porn on my social media. What is wrong with you people?

I post more on Threads than Twitter.

This is the biggest flaw of my research. Whenever I felt the need to post a thought, I went to Threads instead of Twitter. I feel like Twitter feels much lonelier compared to Threads. Perhaps it's because Twitter is much larger, and with the new Twitter blue feature, it just feels even more exclusive. On the other hand, Threads has my real-life friends using it. Not all of my friends, and not even the ones I hang out with on a daily basis, but those familiar faces kept me going back to Threads instead of Twitter. I don't want online friends; I want to speak to the people who know me personally.

No hashtags or topics

I honestly don't know if this is a good or bad thing. On one hand, it's really fun to see what everyone is talking about, especially if it's a topic I care about. But I really don't care about many of the other topics; they're mostly just drama that I'd rather never even know about. Threads take that away from me, and I don't really see a difference. However, I don't use explore pages on any social media, not even on Instagram.

No Website

The Zuck actually recently announced that website is coming, but I really think that should've been a initial release feature. Not a month or so later feature.

Conclusion

I'm gonna make this short. I really like Threads more than Twitter. I like the UI; it's simple and not cluttered. The comments are not super racist and full of spam, which I appreciate. Moreover, I like that my friends use it; without them, I probably wouldn't use either app, to be honest. However, I'm not gonna stop using Twitter either. Most of the influencers I like,are on Twitter. It's a lot more active, and heavy users like Wario64 always post on Twitter first before Threads. I also appreciate the diverse opinions on Twitter, even though a lot of it can be terrible. I see the upsides of both apps. Twitter will definitely be the side chick for a while, at least until all my friends abandon Threads, lol.