I tried Instagram’s X rival, Threads, for a month… and I kind of like it?

What I like about Threads

Threads boasts several great features, especially for those of us who remember Twitter in its early days. It feels like a more refined version of Twitter, one that’s built with modern sensibilities (and challenges) in mind. Here’s what I particularly like about it.

You don’t have to start from scratch

Unlike most of the Twitter alternatives that have sprung up in the wake of Musk’s X acquisition, Threads is attached to an established social media company with a lot of backing. Thanks to it being developed by Instagram—which, like Facebook, is owned by Meta—when you sign up to use Threads, you aren’t starting from scratch.

Instead, you have the opportunity to immediately follow everyone you’re already following on Instagram. This feature doesn’t seem to be available on the Threads web app, but at least on the mobile app, you can just click Settings > Follow and invite friends > Follow Instagram friends. Threads will also suggest people to follow based on who you’re already following on Instagram.

This interconnectivity may or may not appeal to you, but there’s no arguing its convenience as far as initial onboarding. On other social media platforms, finding people to follow—whether they’re new to you or accounts you’re following elsewhere—can be a friction point.

Threads has tons of active users

Another positive of Threads over all the other Twitter-likes is the sheer number of active monthly users on the platform. As of January 2025, Threads had reached 320 million users, which compares incredibly favorably against Bluesky, which only boasts around 30 million users. Neither can compete with X and its 650 million users, but Threads is the clear winner out of the comparable alternatives.

The number of active users on a social media platform really matters. The more people, the more activity. The more activity, the more it all feels alive and meaningful. When you post something, it’s more likely to get in front of eyeballs, generate discussion, and ultimately matter.

I’ve found this especially true when replying to other people’s posts. Whether I’m agreeing with someone, calling them out for spreading misinformation, or just making a joke, the engagement levels are through the roof on Threads—even more engagement than there was on Twitter during its heyday, at least for me personally.

Many high-profile accounts are already there

I treated my exit from X as a chance for a fresh start, and therefore didn’t automatically follow everyone I was previously following on X on the newer platforms. For me, Threads (and Bluesky) represented an opportunity to re-curate my social media feed experience.

And yet, it’s nice to know that most of those big accounts that I know and love and have followed for years—ranging from celebrities to creatives to brands to organizations—are all active on Threads. It lends legitimacy to the platform, which unfortunately isn’t the case yet for Bluesky (although things seem to be moving in that direction).

What I dislike about Threads

As much as I like Threads, it’s far from perfect—just like any other social media platform. Launched in 2023, it’s now facing many of the challenges that Twitter faced before Elon Musk accepted Jack Dorsey’s invitation to acquire it. Here’s what I don’t like about Threads.

There’s way too much engagement farming

If you aren’t familiar with the term, “engagement farming” is when people post purposefully incendiary, controversial, or manipulative material on social media to boost likes, shares, and discussions.

Engagement farming content is designed to trigger a response out of you. Rage bait is crafted to rile you up so much that you share the content with others. Wholesome content draws you in and gets you to smash those like buttons. You may have also seen “Only geniuses can do this!”-type riddles that prey on an innate drive to prove yourself.

That is to say, engagement farming is disingenuous at best and harmful at worst. It’s a huge problem on X, but it’s also there on Threads. Fortunately, I haven’t seen much of it on Bluesky (yet).

Many conversations turn negative fast

Another way in which Threads is suffering as Twitter did before it? The nastiness that regularly emerges in conversations. While the majority of people are still pleasant and happy to engage in civil discourse, some are quick to turn nasty and sling negativity over the tiniest things.

Unlike X, which seems to actively encourage uncivil discourse, Threads at least tries to maintain some level of civility. Along with the ability to report people for taking things too far, if you yourself try to post something deemed unacceptable by Threads’ filters, the platform asks you to reconsider before hitting Send. (Sadly, few do.)

Feed customization options are limited

Threads offers limited ways to customize how you browse posts. The standard feed is the “For you” feed, which lumps together posts from those you follow and those you don’t but might be interested in. There’s also a dedicated “Following” feed with only posts from accounts you follow, plus “Liked” and “Saved” feeds. That’s it.

By comparison, Bluesky boasts multiple different feeds that you can follow, allowing you to truly customize what you see when you open the app. And if you have a little coding expertise, you can even build your own custom feed that others can follow themselves.

Honestly, it’s no surprise. Any social media platform developed by the likes of Meta/Instagram/Facebook was always going to restrict how you interact with the platform, but it’s still disappointing to see. Could Threads offer more customization down the line? Maybe. Likely not.

Am I going to keep using Threads?

After using Threads for a month, I now find myself checking in on the platform multiple times a day. As social media is known to do, once you’ve gotten over the learning curve and invested yourself in the platform, it’s difficult to extricate yourself from it again. You start yearning for engagement, for more conversations, for more feedback. And with Threads as big as it is, it offers the most of that (apart from X).

Therefore, yes, I will be sticking with Threads for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping the good parts continue to get better and encourage others to hop over from X, and I’m hoping that Meta will invest the right resources to deal with the platform’s ongoing issues. There’s more good than bad right now. My fingers are crossed that it evolves further.