Is Threads the new promised land for Web3-holics?

Table of Contents

Social media platforms have always played a significant role in shaping the crypto industry. While Twitter has been the dominant player in this space for years, a new contender has emerged with the potential to disrupt the status quo. Threads, a standalone app by Instagram, is gaining traction as a platform for public conversations. In this article, we delve into the similarities and differences between Threads and Twitter, examine the growth of Threads, and explore whether the crypto community is ready to embrace this new social hub.

I. What is Threads?

Threads, developed by Instagram, serves as a social hub that facilitates seamless interactions through short messages, photos, and videos. While primarily seen as Instagram's answer to Snapchat stories, Threads has grown rapidly and captured the attention of millions of users. Notably, Threads achieved the milestone of reaching one million users in just seven hours, surpassing even ChatGPT, which took five days to achieve the same feat.

Similarities to Twitter:

Threads shares several similarities with Twitter, making it a potential contender in the realm of micro-blogging and real-time conversations. These similarities include:

Real-time micro-blogging: Both Threads and Twitter allow users to share experiences and thoughts instantaneously, enabling fast-paced conversations.
Public conversations: Threads, like Twitter, serves as a platform for public discussions, making it accessible to a wide audience.
Short-form content: Both platforms emphasize brevity, with Threads imposing a 500-character limit and Twitter allowing up to 280 characters (or 25,000 for Twitter Blue subscribers).
Multimedia sharing: Users on both Threads and Twitter can share various types of media, including photos and videos, enhancing the interactive experience.
Hashtags and trends: Threads, similar to Twitter, incorporates hashtags and trending topics, enabling users to follow and participate in popular conversations.

III. Differences to Twitter:

While Threads and Twitter share common ground, Threads distinguishes itself from Twitter through several notable differences. These include:

UI and Content Focus:

Content-centric design: Threads prioritizes content over metrics such as likes, replies, and reposts, placing a stronger emphasis on the quality and substance of conversations.

Usernames instead of display names: To prevent impersonation, Threads employs usernames rather than display names, ensuring a safer and more secure user experience.

User Control:

Hidden like counts and replies: Threads provides users with the option to hide like counts and replies, allowing for a more customizable experience tailored to individual preferences.

Concealed profile metadata: Unlike Twitter, Threads hides profile metadata such as follow counts and personal details, shifting the focus solely to the content shared.

User content management: Threads offers users a greater degree of control over their content, empowering them to curate their feed and interactions according to their preferences.

Text and Media Limitations:

Character limits: Threads imposes a 500-character limit, encouraging concise and focused conversations. In comparison, Twitter allows up to 280 characters (or 25,000 for Twitter Blue subscribers).

Video duration: Threads supports videos of up to 5 minutes, allowing for more extended video content. Twitter, on the other hand, permits up to 2.20 minutes of video content (or 60 minutes for Twitter Blue subscribers).

Integration with Instagram:

Seamless transfer of users: Threads requires an Instagram account for sign-up, leveraging the integration with the popular photo-sharing platform to facilitate a seamless transition for existing Instagram users.

Synchronization of followers and followings: By linking Threads with Instagram, users can synchronize their followers and those they follow, maintaining their social connections across both platforms.

IV. Does Crypto Need Another Twitter?

A. Hesitation within the Crypto Community:

Despite the meteoric growth of Threads and its widespread popularity among general users, the crypto community has shown hesitancy in fully embracing the platform as a replacement for Twitter. Among the top 117 crypto industry brands, a staggering 69.3% have not yet opened a Threads account. This hesitation raises questions about the suitability of Threads for the specific needs and preferences of the crypto community.

B. Engaging with Threads:

While many prominent crypto brands have refrained from joining Threads, there are a few early adopters who have established a presence on the platform. Binance Exchange, one of the leading crypto exchanges, stands out as the largest crypto account on Threads, boasting over 335,000 followers. However, it is worth noting that engagement levels on Threads for these brands have been relatively low compared to Twitter.

C. Insights from Industry Experts:

To gain insights into the motivations behind crypto companies joining Threads, we reached out to industry experts. Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman, Yat Siu, highlighted the disruptive potential of Threads as a platform challenging Twitter's dominance as the global town square. He described Web3 as a global ecosystem that utilizes decentralized technology to challenge the publisher-owned paradigm of Web2, enabling all users to enjoy the benefits of true digital ownership. Siu believes that despite its lower engagement compared to Twitter, Threads is a fast-growing social network with a substantial user base, making it an attractive platform to attract new users to Web3 and foster innovation.

D. The Value of Crypto Twitter:

Twitter has become a significant platform for the crypto community, generating substantial engagement and facilitating vibrant discussions. Terms like "Crypto Twitter" and "NFT Twitter" have emerged to describe the distinct sub-communities within the industry that have formed around the platform. The engagement levels that Twitter generates for the crypto industry are evident in the tweet volumes associated with popular keywords such as #Bitcoin and #Ethereum. However, the allure of Threads lies in its potential to become a platform where Web3 developers can explore new opportunities and attract users to decentralized technologies.

E. The Importance of Engagement:

Engagement is a crucial aspect for any social media platform aiming to cater to the crypto community. The level of engagement that Twitter generates within the industry has played a significant role in its establishment as the go-to platform for discussions and information sharing. Therefore, for Threads to effectively compete with Twitter in the crypto space, it will need to find ways to enhance engagement levels and provide unique value propositions that resonate with crypto enthusiasts and industry participants.

The Value of Crypto Twitter:

Twitter has become a crucial platform for the crypto community, with specific terms like "Crypto Twitter" and "NFT Twitter" emerging to describe the various sub-communities within the industry. The engagement levels generated on Twitter, particularly for discussions related to Bitcoin and Ethereum, have solidified its position as a primary channel for industry conversations. However, the allure of Threads lies in its potential as a platform for Web3 developers to explore new opportunities and attract users to decentralized technologies.

Conclusion:

The emergence of Threads as a potential alternative to Twitter for the crypto community raises intriguing questions about the future landscape of social media in this industry. While Threads has witnessed remarkable growth and offers unique features that differentiate it from Twitter, the majority of crypto brands have yet to fully embrace the platform. As the industry continues to evolve, it remains to be seen whether Threads can gain substantial traction and challenge Twitter's stronghold in the crypto community. Nonetheless, the potential disruptive power of Threads underscores the ongoing shifts and innovations within the realm of social media and the crypto industry as a whole

About Orochi Network

Orochi Network is a cutting-edge zkOS (An operating system based on zero-knowledge proof) designed to tackle the challenges of computation limitation, data correctness, and data availability in the Web3 industry. With the well-rounded solutions for Web3 Applications, Orochi Network omits the current performance-related barriers and makes ways for more comprehensive dApps hence, becoming the backbone of Web3's infrastructure landscape.

Blog

Is Threads the new promised land for Web3-holics?

I. What is Threads?

III. Differences to Twitter:

IV. Does Crypto Need Another Twitter?

Conclusion:

About Orochi Network

Understand What is EIP-7503: Zero-Knowledge Wormholes?

Secure Multi-Party Computation with Information-Theoretic Techniques

Supply Chain Attack: Malicious Code Hides in Open Source

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE): A Beginner's Guide

Orosign Wallet