What is Threads and how is it useful for journalists?

A picture of someone's hand holing a phone. There is also a laptop in front of her.

Journalism in 2023 involves much more than writing articles. Here is everything we know about the new app Threads and how to use it as a journalist.

Social media is an essential tool for journalists to connect with their audience and tell stories in different mediums and Threads is just one of many ways to develop your multimedia skills.

Threads is a new app, built by the Instagram team, for sharing text updates and joining public conversations.

The app launched on July 6, 2023 and more than five million peopled signed up within its first four hours. 

Threads works in a similar fashion to Twitter, allowing users to post up to 500 characters and include links, photos and videos up to five minutes in length – compared to Twitter’s 280 characters of text and two minutes 20 seconds of video content.

Since Threads is connected to Instagram, users can import their Instagram followers in the new app, allowing for immediate conversation. 

Although the app is brand new, it is marketed to use alongside Instagram rather than it’s own stand alone app. A screen grab of News Associates' Threads account.

The integration between these two apps has worked very well since its launch, with users being able to use the same username, profile picture and bio on both platforms. 

Threads is still in its infancy and currently there is no way to find ‘trending’ topics like users can on Twitter, but Meta has claimed it is working on improving recommendations in each feed and creating a more robust search function. 

They will soon be introducing more familiar features such as an edit button and hashtags. Hashtags are great for SEO (search engine optimisation), targeting a specific group of people, joining in the conversation of trending topics and raising awareness about your own work.

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri posts regularly about the exciting updates coming to the app. See more below:

We heard your feedback and we are rolling out some updates starting today. A feed option to see only posts from people you follow in chronological order. Post translations. New ways to filter notification in Activity. Follow button to easily follow your followers back. Quick way to approve new followers if your account is private. This is just the beginning. Thanks for the feedback as always - please keep sending through as we make even more updates to improve your experience on this app.

Useful for journalists?

Having a good knowledge of various social media platforms is extremely desirable by employers and journalists today are expected to be well-versed in multimedia skills, particularly if you want to go into broadcast or digital journalism. 

Threads, much like Instagram and other social media channels, is the perfect free platform for you to showcase your latest byline or video piece and network with other journalists.

Keep an eye out for the apps updates so you can utilise it to it’s full potential.

Have you got a Threads account? Follow The School of Journalism on Threads @newsassociates

You can also find us on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok!

Read our guide on how to use Instagram as a journalist here. 

Featured image from Firmbee via Pixabay.