Meta, the mother company behind social media giants Facebook and Instagram, will launch a new app called Threads to compete with Twitter on Thursday, July 6.
Meta’s new Threads microblogging application, first announced in March, is already available for pre-order on mobile app stores and the official website is showing the countdown to the launch.
On iOS devices, there is a link to a download page. Android devices display a “coming soon for Android” message.
The Threads launch page features a flat-screen 3D model composed of vibrant dots that can be interacted with and moved around. When observed from a specific viewpoint, these dots arrange themselves to reveal the Threads logo.
It is thought that the application will be closely connected to Instagram, although it offers an entirely different service. Users of Instagram will have the option to import their contacts in Threads, meaning there is a potential user market of 1.6 billion people to begin with.
Apple’s App Store describes Threads as “Instagram’s app for text conversations”.
“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about to tomorrow’s trends,” it says. Screenshots show an interface similar to that of Twitter and its competitors: short text messages, which can be replied to.
US tech website Platformer reported earlier that Threads would be decentralised, meaning users are able to set up their own, independent servers and set server-specific rules for how content is moderated. This could enable the new app to interconnect with other social products, not a common feature among other networks.
Such an option would make the app, in theory, more resistant to censorship and offer more variety concerning algorithms, experts say. Potentially, users would also be able to generate their own user standards.
🚨BREAKING: META's Answer to Twitter (Threads) Release Date CONFIRMED
'Threads' will be released on Thursday in the U.S.
The app has been described as a competitor to Twitter. According to an executive at Meta, its goal is to establish a "sanely run" social media site.… pic.twitter.com/PxQxAERnB1
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 4, 2023
Meta wants to take the fight to Twitter, which has experienced major upheaval since it was taken over by US billionaire Elon Musk. While he has fired around 80 per cent of Twitter’s employees he insists he wants to make Twitter a better product with more freedom of speech and less of what he sees as biased content moderation.
Alongside that will be a series of new features such as the ability to post longer videos, the ability to make longer texts, so-called DM replies, an Emoji Picker, and more options for those who pay a fee.
Musk aims to make Twitter a more profitable company but it has been hit with a slew of technical difficulties. The latest of these was a sudden limit on the number of messages users could see per day, which the firm said was due to companies and bots “scraping” Twitter for personal data.
On July 3, Twitter also announced its popular app TweetDeck, which has also had its share of technical difficulties, would become a paid-for service in 30 days.
However, Meta has also suffered from some serious problems on its own platforms.
Amid Twitter’s takeover, new companies have arrived on the scene to compete with it. One such, Mastodon tried and failed, but now an outfit called Bluesky is also taking on the tech giant.
The upcoming competition between Meta and Twitter has been likened by some commentators to a cage fight between Musk and fellow US billionaire and Meta owner Marc Zuckerberg. Pictures have been circulating online of Musk training, while Zuckerberg is a known practitioner of the martial art jiu-jitsu.
According to online wags, possible venues for such a battle include the Vegas Octagon and Rome’s ancient Colosseum.
I have this great move that I call “The Walrus”, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2023
