• Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival social media, has gone live a few days early of its 6th July launch window.
• While most people won’t be able to make a profile yet, some big brands and celebs have already jumped on the Threads wagon.
• The platform is designed to look very similar to Twitter, with some slight Instagram-scented differences.

On Monday, Meta – the social media giant owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – said it would launch its “Threads” platform on 6th July 2023. The new app is very similar to Elon Musk’s Twitter, and seems like Meta’s own take on its kind of social media.

Meta announced the creation of Threads in 2019 as a complement to Instagram, but now it has found footing as its own platform and rival to Twitter.

Threads went live on the internet on Tuesday, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg making his first Threat (Threads + post = threat, sorry we don’t make the rules). Giving us some insight into the first home-grown social media platform Meta has made since Facebook in 2004.

The platform on the web uses a design language immediately recognisable to anyone who has ever used Twitter.

The like, reply, retweet (or repost as it is known on Threads) are nearly identical to Twitter’s, and the Share button looks like the one found on Instagram. What you get then is a Frankenstein’s Monster of a social media platform – made even more blood-curdling when you look at Zuckerberg’s profile picture.

Even the verified checkmark is nearly identical to Twitter. A nice little improvement we noticed is that when you click on the Threads asperand-like logo, the website goes from dark mode to light mode instantly.

Despite the fact that wide availability is still not live, and you can only pre-order the application on the App Store with Android support “coming soon,” many big brands and a few celebrities already have Threads accounts. No doubt invited early to generate buzz.

These include Netflix US, Gary Vee, and of course Instagram. Tech YouTuber iJustine has been making significant usage of Threads, and her profile gives a good idea of how the app will look for most users complete with images, but no video as of yet.

We did find a video on this musician’s profile, but clicking on it sends us to a 404. Clearly, Threads still needs a bit of time in the oven.

Looking at Zuckerberg’s profile on Threads, you can see he has nearly 2 000 followers, many of which are not verified. These could of course be Meta employees, or their friends and family members who received beta codes.

It is also not possible to find other users on Threads right now, since going to its homepage gives you a countdown. Instead, only by perusing the Threats made by other users can we see who has receive the golden ticket.

Since Threads was made by Instagram, we imagine there will be a few features from the image-sharing platforms that will make its way here. But we’re not sure if that will be enough to lure former Twitter users to the Threads side of life, even if many are unhappy with the management at the moment.

What is sure, is that Threads enters a rat race of other brands looking to topple Twitter from its own throne of niche. It will have to also compete with the likes of Mastadon and BlueSky, which is being made by former Twitter employees.

But from what we can see from this small glimpse, Threads looks to be just Twitter, but made by Meta. This means that it is Twitter run by sane people, to quote Twitter’s owner.

[Image – Mark Zuckerberg on Threads]