Meta is taking another swing at X with a new Threads feature that expands posts to 10,000 characters, up from the previous 500. Unlike X, where posting longer content is locked behind a subscription, Threads is rolling it out free for all users.
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The update is aimed at creators who want to share extended thoughts, excerpts, or transcripts, and crucially, to link back to their original work. Meta says links added in these long-form posts will appear prominently, a deliberate contrast to X’s design changes that make outbound links harder to spot (and sometimes even block them entirely).
In addition to length, Threads’ new text format supports styling options (bold, italics, strikethrough, underlining, highlights) plus emojis. That means creators can format their content more like a blog post, while still keeping it inside the feed.
The move also responds to user behavior: many were already sharing screenshots of longer text from newsletters, books, or podcast transcripts. Threads now gives them a native way to do so, while helping direct attention, and traffic, to their projects outside the app.
There are some limits. Long-form text isn’t indexed by search engines, nor federated yet (so it won’t appear across the wider fediverse). Meta says it’s working on both.
With this update, Meta is positioning Threads as a creator-friendly space where extended content and outbound promotion are not only allowed but encouraged, a sharp departure from X’s walled-garden approach.
