Threads, Meta’s response to Twitter, officially launched to the public Wednesday night. The announcement for the app came just as Twitter, now owned and run by Elon Musk, launched a rate-limit feature on the popular app. The new feature prohibits Twitter users from viewing over a certain number of tweets, with only Blue Twitter users, the app’s paid alternative, earning an unlimited number of viewing rates.
The feature didn’t go down well with many. It is on the back of that displeasure that Meta launched Threads, a text-based app and a close alternative to Twitter.
Since it came out, Threads has been recording major sign-ups. That’s due in part to the fact that new users can sign up using their current Instagram accounts. When opening a Threads account, users can copy over their Instagram bio and follow the same people they already do on the photo and video based app. Right now Threads shares an interface and user experience many say is in close comparison with Twitter’s.
Notwithstanding, the app currently has an open forum-style user interface without curated timelines, direct messaging functions, hashtags, extended search tools and other functionalities.
This hasn’t stopped the app from recording over 10 million sign-ups in less than 24 hours. In a number of “threads” shared on the new app, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri emphasized the biggest challenge will be to develop functionalities that will keep people excited but and returning to the app.
Meta Founder, Mark Zuckerberg on the other hand has emphasized the importance of Threads growing to be a friendly space that focuses on kindness.
While it is still too soon to accurately tell what tone or cultural direction the new app will take, its growing popularity is undeniable.
Twitter’s Effect
Since Musk took the reins of Twitter the app has been rocked with several issues, from massive layoffs to the introduction of disliked functionalities. Threads hasn’t been the only app to come up as an alternative. Spill for instance, is a new app created by Black ex-Twitter employees to serve what the founders call “culture drivers.”
In an interview with Afrotech, one of the co-founders, Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell shared, “Our thesis was if we could build a platform from the ground up that caters to these groups, these culture drivers, and then solve the core problems that they’re facing, that our community is facing more specifically, that would make for a better experience for everyone.”
The app, like Twitter and Threads allows for quick, witty conversations but is more visually powered than the other platforms.
Black Women Celebrities on Threads
Although the Threads app is fairly new, below is a list of some of your favorite Black women celebrities who have already signed up.
Oprah Winfrey
The media mogul used her first thread to promote her upcoming remake of “The Color Purple.”
“I’m just here to tell y’all that #TheColorPurple is coming out this Christmas. Take your sisters, friends, family, anyone and everyone and wear your purple. By December we dont want to be able to find purple fabric in the United States. Not a purple feather, a purple shoe, or a purple sock cause we’re getting our PURPLE on,” she wrote followed by the purple heart emojis.
Winfrey also reposted threads from the Oprah Daily and Oprah’s Book Club accounts.
Kandi Burruss
The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” veteran posted two threads after the app launched.
“Here we go with yet another app!” she wrote followed by a face palm emoji.
Burruss then posted another thread telling her followers she was up late getting her hair braided and asking them what they were up to.
Simone Biles
U.S. Olympian Simone Biles kept her first few threads simple. Her first was a white heart. Then in response to the Instagram Threads account commenting “hi you’re here,” Biles posted three hand wave emojis.
Several other Black women celebrities including Gabrielle Union, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tracee Ellis Ross, Janet Jackson and Tiwa Savage have set up their Threads accounts but have yet to make a first post on the new app.