Things you can do on Twitter but not on Threads
What's the story
In the few days since its launch, Instagram's Threads has shown it can take on Twitter. The app has amassed over 100 million sign-ups in five days.
One might think Threads' rise has affected Twitter. But Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino says that's not the case.
She said Twitter had its "largest usage day" last week. So what's keeping Twitter afloat despite the Threads threat?
Context
Why does this story matter?
Twitter has had a tumultuous time since Elon Musk's takeover. Twitter has been at its polarizing best during Musk's reign.
Meta saw an opportunity in Twitter's crumbling dominance in the microblogging space. And Threads is a result of that.
However, Threads is still far from being a replacement for Twitter. It lacks certain features that made Twitter what it is today.
Similarities
General features on Threads, Twitter are similar
As much as they would like to hate each other, we can't deny that Threads and Twitter are almost the same. The general features on both platforms are quite similar.
Starting a thread or creating a tweet is pretty much the same. So is liking them.
The reshare option has different names on both platforms—retweet on Twitter and repost on Threads.
Blue
Twitter Blue offers higher character limit, high-resolution videos
There are, however, some things that people can do on Twitter that they cannot on Threads. When it comes to character limit and videos, Threads trumps the free version of Twitter.
However, Twitter Blue, the premium version, beats Threads by a huge margin. It offers a 25,000-character limit per post and lets you upload up to two hours long high-resolution videos.
Hashtags
Thread doesn't have 'Trending' section
Hashtags have defined the Twitter experience for a while. They let users search for a trending topic with ease.
Twitter also has a "Trending" section that shows the most talked about hashtags. This makes it easier for people to engage in conversations about a particular topic.
As you can imagine, users can't search for hashtags on Threads. Meta may add the feature soon.
Friendly
Threads blocks offensive words, phrases, emojis
Meta wants Threads to be a friendly platform. CEO Mark Zuckerberg even attributed the lack of friendliness as the reason behind Twitter not realizing its full potential (at least according to him).
Threads, by default, blocks offensive words, phrases, and emojis. Users can also add custom words or phrases to the list of things they don't want to see.
Twitter has no such restrictions.
Information
Threads doesn't have proper web client
The lack of a proper web client is another glaring difference between Threads and Twitter. On the threads.net domain, users can only view posts. Twitter, on the other hand, allows users to have full-fledged interactions on the web.