Threads is testing the ability to sign up using a Facebook account rather than Instagram. The new option spotted by Social Media Today is not yet widely available, but is already mentioned in a Meta support article.
In addition to making it easier for people without an Instagram account to quickly create an account on Meta’s competitor, X and Bluesky, this new Facebook signup option should affect the type of posts and ads that are recommended to you.
“Signing up for Threads with a Facebook account helps unlock features that work across Threads and Facebook, such as using the same login information to access both apps,” Meta writes in a support article. “If you create a Threads profile with your Facebook account, we’ll combine your information from Threads and Facebook.”
Encouraging users to create their Threads profile using the information and followers they had on Instagram was one of the ways Meta quickly expanded its Threads user base. However, this didn’t always lead to the best Threads experience. As it turns out, growth-obsessed Instagram users create some pretty superficial text posts. And since most people’s Instagram accounts are linked to their Threads profile, they get a lot of this low-quality engagement bait by default. If you came to Threads looking for X’s relative wit, you’d be pretty disappointed.
Allowing you to sign up via Facebook will likely have its drawbacks (namely, modern Facebook is also pretty spammy), but it at least recognizes that what people want from Instagram is different than what they want from Threads.
Meta has recently made a concerted effort to make Threads a more independent entity. Adam Mosseri, Meta’s head of Instagram, shared that the company was planning to remove “importing Instagram timelines from the adaptation process” as early as November 2024. Threads also began testing the use of its own separate direct message inbox in June, after relying on Instagram’s direct messages since launch.
