So long Twitter, Hello Threads

At last, I’ve bid farewell (and good riddance) to Twitter, and I’m dipping my toes in the water of the new micro-blogging platform, Threads.

Many readers of my blog may not feel the need to explore my social media, yet for me a micro-blogging platform does provide a good window into my activities. It allows more people to discover my work, using links to this blog to provide more depth and detail for people who want to find out more.

Twitter has long had a vibrant community of tree and forestry people, environmentalists and creatives, and it was originally a great way for me to engage with important news and activities. However, along with millions of other users, I became increasingly horrified as Twitter became an unpleasant online community, and then wrecked by successive ill-thought-through interventions by its billionaire owner. I had a brief foray with Mastadon, but it was not for me, because as for so many others, the learning curve was just too steep. With Threads run by Meta and linked closely with Instagram, it may be too early to tell how the platform will grow and be used, but there’s no denying it has seen an explosion of interest since launching on 5th July. It has become the most rapidly downloaded app ever. Evidently, I have not been alone in waiting for a viable alternative to Twitter.

A new dawn for the Threads app. A recent image of a dramatic sunrise (c) Gabriel Hemery

So far, Threads appears more friendly even if its millions of new users are all, like me, wondering best how to navigate its use. I have been impressed with the way it renders images. It has the advantage over its sister site Instagram in allowing images to be displayed in any format rather than being constrained to 1:1. Like many photographers, I will need to work how to use the two platforms side by side. I assume it will be Instagram for images, Threads for the story, but who knows ..?