Thread

A thread is a series of connected posts from one person, read top to bottom. On X (Twitter), each post in a thread continues the one before it, so you can add context, an update or a longer point than a single post allows. X's standard limit is 280 characters per post, which is why threads exist.

Example

An illustrative five-post thread about a pricing change (the business and its numbers are made up):

1. "We raised our prices last month and lost fewer customers than we feared. Here is what we did, step by step:"
2. "Step 1: we emailed every customer 30 days ahead, with the new price and the date."
3. "Step 2: existing customers kept their old price for three months."
4. "Step 3: we answered every reply ourselves, within a day."
5. "Result: 4 cancellations out of 212 customers. The full write-up is on our blog: (link)"

The first post is the hook: it is what people see first, so it has to say why the rest is worth reading. Each later post holds one complete thought.

On X

You write a thread in the X composer by adding posts with the plus icon and publishing them together with "Post all"; you can also add posts to a thread later. According to X Help, a thread of 2 or 3 posts from someone you follow usually appears in your timeline joined by a line; with 4 or more posts, the thread is shortened and readers see "Show this thread". A thread can be saved as a draft. Premium subscribers can write a single longer post (up to 25,000 characters) instead, but a thread lets each point be replied to and reposted on its own.

On LinkedIn

LinkedIn's post composer has no thread option. A post can hold up to 3,000 characters, so most X threads fit in one LinkedIn post; for longer pieces there are LinkedIn articles (up to 125,000 characters). When you take a thread to LinkedIn, join the posts into paragraphs and drop the numbering.

Writing one

Split at natural breaks, never mid-sentence. Keep each post readable on its own, since people can land on any of them from a repost. In Postopus you can write a thread post by post, use "Split into a thread" when an X draft runs over the limit, or ask Tako to "Make this a thread" from a longer draft and edit the result. The free thread splitter does the splitting with X's character counting.

Sources

• X Help, How to create a thread on X.
• X Developer Platform, Counting characters (280 characters).
• LinkedIn Help, Post and share updates (the post composer's options).
• LinkedIn Help, Differences between posting updates and publishing articles (3,000 and 125,000 characters).

Last reviewed: October 24, 2026