By Zainab Shafiq 
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is set to launch ‘Threads,’ an app aimed at competing with Twitter. This comes as many Twitter users seek alternatives since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform. Threads, marketed as an Instagram app on the Apple App Store, is a text-based communication app that connects through users’ Instagram accounts, allowing them to sign up using their existing Instagram credentials. Users can follow individuals they are already connected with on Instagram.
Tech enthusiasts are buzzing with excitement, dubbing Threads a potential “Twitter Killer.” The app is described as a space where communities can come together to discuss a wide range of topics, from current interests to future trends. While Twitter has long dominated the realm of public conversation online, Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has always aimed to dethrone it. With the announcement of Threads, Meta is now poised to provide a compelling alternative.
Threads, internally known as Project 92, was developed as a rapid project leveraging Instagram’s infrastructure. The screenshots on Apple’s App Store indicate that users can easily log in using their Instagram accounts. Meta executives have described the app as a well-managed iteration of a social network with a public focus, making a subtle reference to Elon Musk’s unpredictable nature.
The app allows users to sign up with their Instagram accounts and follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram. Posts, referred to as Threads, resemble tweets and offer features such as liking, replying, reposting, and sharing. Users will also have the ability to limit the audience for their posts.
Given its integration with Instagram, Threads will benefit from the existing user base of over 1 billion monthly active users, providing easy and frequent access without the need to rebuild a following from scratch.
The announcement of Threads follows Elon Musk’s recent move to limit the number of tweets users can view each day on Twitter due to concerns of data scraping and system manipulation. The platform experienced intermittent access issues, with thousands of users reporting problems. Jack Dorsey, one of the founders of Twitter, even tweeted a screenshot of the app’s data policy, to which Musk simply replied with a straightforward “Yeah.”
As Threads gradually captures public attention, it remains to be seen how it will fare in the highly competitive social media landscape, particularly against established platforms like Twitter.
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