Why I’m leaving Twitter for Threads

Right off the bat I admit that I did not want to leave Twitter (now called X of all things). I’ve been active on the app for over 10 years and have close to 19,000 followers. That’s a big platform to promote my writing. I was willing to put up with Elon Musk’s childish rants, and his blatant attempts to coerce users to pay for premium service. But his stand on free speech including anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial has been intolerable.

I had a feeling things might go bad when Musk fired his head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth who also happens to be Jewish. Antisemitic tweets have more than doubled over the months since Musk took charge, according to tech firm CASM Technology and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Individuals and groups continually report antisemitic tweets that are not taken down. Here is an example of what does not violate Twitter rules.

I don’t want to just shut down this account and start from scratch. Instead, I have a plan to transition from this platform to a new one over this next few months. I decided finally to move to Threads and opened up an account last week. In four days I had reached 300 followers. That took me a couple of years to reach when I first joined Twitter.

I gave some consideration to other social media platforms. In just the past three years, a host of would-be Twitter alternatives have arisen, each hoping to lure away users frustrated with the site. But they were too ideological or too complicated or just too small, and no app has been able to threaten Twitter’s dominance. Then Meta launched Threads. Meta understands that all that revenue is dependent on the content users generate, so that it’s important to court users, not alienate them. And it has a clear understanding of what advertisers mean when they talk about “brand safety”—their desire not to have their ads appear next to posts they perceive as offensive.

I discovered some advantages to Threads. First if you have an Instagram account, your followers with Threads accounts follow you onto the new app. I like it much better than Instagram which is photo/video app while Threads is a micro-blogging app like Twitter, only better.

Twitter’s character limit (unless you pay for Premium service) has always been a defining feature, forcing users to be concise in their messages. However, there are times when thoughts and ideas require more space to be fully expressed. With Threads, users can seamlessly connect multiple tweets, enabling them to share complex thoughts and ideas in a structured manner. This feature empowers individuals to delve deeper into a topic, creating a more comprehensive narrative that engages followers and fosters meaningful discussions.

Twitter has always been known for its fast-paced nature, with tweets quickly scrolling down users’ feeds. While this keeps the platform dynamic, it can also result in missed or overlooked tweets. Threads counter this by providing an option for users to expand upon a single tweet, thereby increasing its visibility and accessibility. This feature ensures that users’ messages have a higher chance of being noticed and engaged with, leading to more meaningful conversations and connections.

Threads enable users to streamline their conversations and maintain the context within a single thread. Previously, users had to reply to individual tweets, potentially causing confusion when following a discussion. With Threads, replies and subsequent conversations are neatly organized within the same thread, making it easier for both the poster and readers to navigate and contribute to the ongoing dialogue.

Now the Threads algorithm works differently than Twitter. The Threads algorithm is not too heavy on ranking posts, but recommends posts from random accounts, i.e. the ones you don’t follow. They feel this is important for a new app, as users need to follow enough people to get the algorithm working. Threads, just like Instagram, allows users to include hidden words in their posts to filter out replies that contain certain words. You can unfollow, block, restrict, and report profiles easily, and if you’ve blocked an account on Instagram, it’ll automatically be blocked on Threads. 

So, Threads is currently building up its user base, and fast. If it all works out, and people stay on the platform, the algorithm will be a content creator’s dream, and be the perfect place for people to direct their influencer marketing. Plus, it’ll be a dream for advertisers, with all the potential of Twitter, without all the hate disguised as free speech, strange rants, and weird decisions. Looking at you, Elon.