Don’t be so quick to jump on Meta’s Threads hype train: read this first!

Given that it is all the craze in today’s news, there is a good chance Meta’s brand new Threads social media app has reached you in one way or another. It is a direct “friendly” rival, as Mark Zuckerberg calls it, to Twitter, and so far, it has been quite successful judging by the fact that more than 10 Million users subscribed in just seven hours.Unfortunately, as with all things, there is a catch to signing up for a Threads account. You see, Meta intends Threads to be an extension of Instagram, which is very apparent in how the two platforms are interlinked. In fact, they are so tightly connected that Meta has made it impossible for users to delete their Threads account without deleting their related Instagram one. (via MacRumors)

Of course, it wouldn’t be right if you didn’t have any means of getting rid of your newly registered Threads account, so there is still the option to deactivate it. Deactivating your Threads account will remove your posts and any interactions you’ve had with others, but it will not delete them from Meta’s servers.Why would Meta do this? It is simple, really — to benefit as much as possible from the massive amount of people who will sign up during the hype around launch. After all, even if someone does decide to deactivate their account it would be only considered a temporary action. Plus, deactivating your profile is as easy as logging back up again, which is much less of a hassle to go through (even if only mentally) compared to signing up.

So, suffice it to say if you don’t want your Instagram account forever locked in unison with a Threads one, it is best to avoid jumping on the hype train for now. There is always the possibility that Meta changes this in the future once things have cooled down, and it is not that afraid of losing its users.