Parents' Guide to

Threads

By Laura Ordoñez, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Meta's text-based Twitter competitor; some privacy concerns.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android Free Social Networking
Threads logo: Black background with a white "at" symbol

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

community guidelines</a> (which are the same as Instagram's guidelines). Users can report any hate speech or inappropriate comments they see. At launch, not available in EU (European Union) countries due to EU data privacy rules. Lacks some accessibility tools and features: It's only accessible as an app (there's no desktop site), it doesn't have a dynamic text option, and there are no in-app alt-text features. There's a setting in the app to turn on auto-generated captions for videos, but not custom captioning for video posts.</p> ">
Instagram account or create one in order to create a Threads account, since the accounts are linked. The link between the two accounts makes setting up your Threads account pretty easy and quick. Once you sign up, you can start following accounts that interest you, but you'll also see posts from recommended accounts and others you don't follow, which can crowd your feed unless you mute the accounts you don't want to see. Although the feed looks similar to <a href=https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/"/website-reviews/twitter">Twitter, there's little categorization (no hashtags to group content or trending section), nor are posts shown in chronological order (posts are controlled by an algorithm). Posting your thoughts, commenting on other posts, and sharing posts is fairly simple, but there's no option to edit a post once it's live, only delete. It's pretty seamless to share a post from Threads to your Instagram (post or story) and Twitter, but there's currently no direct sharing from other platforms onto Threads, so you either have to post an external link or upload a photo or video. You can choose to deactivate your account, but you can't fully delete your account without deleting the Instagram account it's linked to.</p> ">
  • Threads: An image that contains three screenshots. One shows the login page of Threads, another shows the feed page and the third shows the user's profile page.
  • Threads: An image that contains four screenshots from the Threads app. The screenshots show various pages to control privacy settings, repost and control mentions and comments.
  • Threads: Two screenshots: one of the Threads privacy settings inside the app, the other is from the Apple App Store and shows the data the app collects.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 1 parent review

6016c57f-6483-48af-9a78-25efa4e127f9
6016c57f-6483-48af-9a78-25efa4e127f9 Parent of 5 and 6-year-old
August 14, 2023
age 11+

Nice

See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

THREADS is a text-based social media app that lets users microblog, posting their thoughts in text, as well as sharing photos, videos, and links from other sites or apps. It's available for both iOS and Android and requires an Instagram account in order to sign up (it's technically an Instagram app, and users' Instagram accounts are directly connected to their Threads accounts). The setup is very similar to Twitter. Users can follow different friends and accounts of their choosing and see their posts in the Thread feed. At the time of launch, that feed isn't chronological and instead follows an algorithm, which means the top of your feed could have a post from three hours ago or three days ago. And since there aren't any hashtags as there are on Twitter and Instagram, there's no clear content categorization. You can communicate with other Threaders by commenting on their posts or mentioning them in your own post, but, unlike on Twitter, there's no option to privately direct message other users. Threads posts have a limit of 500 characters and can include videos up to five minutes long or a maximum of 10 photos (which show up in an aesthetically pleasing carousel similar to that of Instagram). Users under 16 will be issued a private account by default, but all users can choose to have their account be private and can control who sees and interacts with their posts through various privacy settings. As a safety measure, you have the ability to block, mute, or report any user or post. When it comes to deleting your account, it's all or nothing. Although you can deactivate your account (which is more like putting it on a timeout), you can't fully delete your Threads account unless you delete the Instagram account it's attached to.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

At last, a formidable competitor to the almighty Twitter. Though not without its flaws -- and certainly not without its data diving -- Threads (so far) offers a nice respite from the toxic Twitter-sphere and all its drama. Where Twitter feels like a battleground, Threads feels like Sunday brunch with your closest friends. Of course, it's not perfect by any means. The launch algorithm is a mess (which means it's not ideal for getting up-to-date news or breaking trends), the feed can feel like a free for all, you have to go searching for the content you want with very little direction, and you might as well hand over your keys and give up your firstborn with the amount of personal information you sign off to Meta when you agree to the app's terms and conditions. Hopefully, a lot of the foundation and usability issues will be addressed in future updates. In order to really succeed, Threads will need to keep the momentum of its feel-good content and heartfelt connection, as well as its less restrictive features.

As far as a safe space for kids to share and communicate, Threads is probably best reserved for teens who feel they can handle social media responsibly. In many ways, it could serve as an entry point to social media (if that's something kids are expressing interest in), since it currently doesn't rely heavily on sharing filtered images, comparing curated versions of your identity, constantly coming up with new ideas for videos, or staying on top of content trends. Instead, Threads offers the chance to dive a bit deeper, allowing for freedom of expression and ideas through written word first and giving teens (and adults) a nice break from the sensory overload of platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the benefits of text-based social media apps like Threads. How can an app like this be used in a positive way for youth voices? How can apps like this be used negatively? Kids: Can you create a contract for how you'll use this app?

  • Talk about and do research on the importance of protecting your privacy on apps. Threads says that it collects data from users, and users must agree to let it have access to this data in order to create an account. Is using an app worth handing over your sensitive information? Why, or why not? Do you know how to find information about how an app uses the personal information you give it access to?

  • Parents: Although there are some privacy settings within the Threads app, they tend to fall short on protecting private information teens may provide when using the app. Talk to your kids about how to stay safe online and on apps. You can also look into phone settings that may be able to protect teens further and encourage safer digital habits.

  • How can you become a better digital citizen on this app and others like it?

App Details

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