Threads, the long-awaited Twitter rival from Meta, launches within the UK in the present day.

Built by the agency's Instagram group, it is billed as a house for "sharing text updates and joining public conversations".

Its launch could not be extra aggressively timed, coming days after another controversial move by Twitter's incendiary owner Elon Musk compelled many individuals to search for an alternate platform.

With a shamelessly comparable look and the billions of Mark Zuckerberg behind it, Threads appears well-placed to problem "the bird app" in a method the likes of Bluesky and Mastodon have not fairly managed.

Here's all the things it's good to know.

What is Threads?

Threads is designed before everything as a spot to share public real-time textual content updates, identical to Twitter.

Indeed, you barely even need to squint, and Threads appears to be like identical to Twitter - although it does have a unique font.

Posts may be as much as 500 characters lengthy and embody hyperlinks, photographs, and movies of as much as 5 minutes.

They seem in a timeline format, and posts may be preferred, reposted, replied to, and shared elsewhere.

Users will be capable of comply with celebrities, athletes, and mates, a lot of whom can have jumped over from Instagram.

It's accessible on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Read extra:Why Meta's Twitter rival could finally be the one that catches on

What do you imply 'jumped over from Instagram'?

Besides the cash and affect of Meta itself, the most important leg-up Threads has on its rivals is it leverages Instagram's already large person base.

There are greater than two billion Instagram accounts, and the identical credentials can be utilized to log in to Threads.

Usernames and verification will carry over, that means Threads might rapidly assemble an enormous line-up of celebrities, athletes, politicians, sports activities golf equipment, news shops and types that already use Instagram.

It additionally means you are more likely to have extra mates and different followers you recognise from Twitter on Threads.

It might in a short time really feel quite a bit livelier than apps like Bluesky and Mastodon, which have grown since Musk's Twitter takeover however nonetheless comfortably path its estimated person base of 360-400 million.

Read extra:Why are so many apps adopting the same look?

Has anybody well-known signed up but?

Early adopters embody chef Gordon Ramsay, pop star Shakira, F1 driver Lando Norris, and NBA star Seth Curry.

Even if you happen to do not comply with them, they might present up in your feed if their posts are deemed "recommended content".

It's definitely a smaller line-up to start out with than Instagram and Twitter at the moment have, however might develop quick.

How is Threads dealing with privateness and security?

Meta says Threads can have the identical options as Instagram on this regard.

All profiles aged below 18 shall be defaulted to non-public after they be a part of, and anybody can management who can reply to or point out them. Words may also be filtered so you do not see any posts that include them.

Accounts may be blocked, restricted and reported to Meta's moderation group, and anybody you've got blocked on Instagram will routinely be blocked on Threads.

Read extra:Zuckerberg faces long and painful road to metaverse success

Is there something actually distinctive about Threads?

Not actually to be sincere, however there's one fascinating choice that would inform the way it develops.

Meta says Threads will quickly be appropriate with ActivityPub - in essence, it is an open social networking protocol permitting completely different platforms to speak to one another.

It's the identical strategy taken by upstarts like Mastodon, however extra uncommon for a serious firm.

In practise, it might can help you switch content material between providers. So if you happen to've spent the previous 9 months on Mastodon after leaving Twitter however now wish to transfer to Threads, you might finally switch your content material.

You might additionally work together with individuals on completely different apps regardless of which one you are actively utilizing, along with your posts accessible throughout digital strains. All the whereas, every platform might nonetheless have its personal moderation insurance policies.

For many, the most important situation on the subject of leaving any social media platform is the prospect of abandoning probably years of content material and interactions. Ideally, this decentralised strategy may very well be an answer.