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Meta is about to launch a new social media platform that will undoubtedly give Twitter and run for its money and probably put more fuel into the Zuckerberg-Musk feud.
Just a little over 24 hours after its debut, the new social media achieved 10 million followers making it Twitter’s biggest competition as of yet. This is great timing for the application as Elon Musk put new restrictions on Twitter that people don’t like.
Threads accounts will be closely integrated with Instagram accounts. Threads and Instagram accounts will reportedly share a username, profile picture, and name, with users only able to change these details through Instagram. Users are expected to be able to select whether followers, followed accounts, and blocked users on Instagram carry over to Threads.
Designed as a platform for real-time conversations and sharing, Threads aims to provide users with a similar experience to Twitter, with an emphasis on public, text-based posts and conversations (also known as microblogging) and is closely linked to and based on sister social networking service Instagram.
Like most social networking services, Threads will be offered through native mobile clients for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. A web application may reportedly be available, with profiles using the format threads.net/user. The app was announced on July 4 with pre-orders opening two days before its release in the US.
Following the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, Twitter’s competitors have attempted to capitalize on the exodus of users. In a brainstorming session in late 2022 which focused on devising strategies to compete with Twitter, Meta Platforms employees discussed extending the rollout of Instagram Notes—a forthcoming text-based feature to Instagram as well as building a separate text-focused app. In June 2023, The Verge published details of an internal companywide meeting at Meta Platforms discussing “Project 92”, described by Meta Platforms chief product officer Chris Cox as the company’s “response to Twitter”. The company reportedly had celebrities such as DJ Slime committed to using the app and was in talks with Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama.
Details emerged about Instagram Threads in July when developer Alessandro Paluzzi tweeted that Project 92 had been released onto the Google Play Store as Threads. The app was taken down several hours later, but Paluzzi posted several screenshots of the app’s features.
On July 3, 2023, Threads appeared on the Apple App Store with a release date of July 6. Threads unveiled amid changes to how many tweets can be viewed a day. An official website at threads.net was also discovered, with a countdown clock counting down to the service’s launch, and links to download the service’s apps.
A release in the EU is delayed as Meta is awaiting clarification from regulators “amid regulatory uncertainty about the service’s use of personal data.”
