Meta is regarded as Twitter’s biggest competitor boasting a user base of more than 3 billion across Facebook, Instagram and other Meta-owned apps. Meta unveils a potential Twitter eliminator, “Threads”, which is all set to be released on 6th July. Users of this app will be able to connect and interact with their Instagram friends.
The upcoming micro-blogging platform prioritizes public interactions along the lines of Twitter. Meta owner, Mark Zuckerberg has launched products and features by garnering inspiration from newbie apps and rivals. Stories on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook were inspired by Snapchat’s disappearing photos and videos. Additionally, geo-filters and face filters, similar to Snapchat lenses were introduced by Meta in stories. The popularity of Facebook and IG stories skyrocketed in 2017 when it acquired almost 250 million users in contrast to Snapchat which hosted 166 million users at that point of time.
All your Threads are belong to us https://t.co/FfrIcUng5O pic.twitter.com/V7xbMOfINt
— jack (@jack) July 4, 2023Threads is listed on the App Store and Google Play Store. The microblogging platform that might be Twitter’s potential killer has sparked a series of privacy-related controversies ahead of its launch. The app’s Apple App Store listing hints at the plausibility of ‘Threads’ collecting information pertaining to health, fitness, finances, usage, location, browsing history and additional sensitive information of the users.
Threads are developed with the ultimate objective of fostering conversations instead of sharing photos, videos, etc which is characteristic of Instagram. It bears the functionality of Twitter and permits a character limit of up to 500 for each post. It will allow users to upload up to 10 photos, and 1 video having a maximum duration of 5 minutes.
In 2020, the Tech giant, Apple introduce privacy labels across all Apple devices like iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS, wherein disclosure on the part of app publishers regarding the information collected through the app was mandated. This feature gives users an insight into the data that might be collected when they are using a particular application.
The official launch of Instagram’s Threads for iPhones is scheduled for July 6th, according to the App Store listing. Just like Twitter, users on threads will be able to sign in with their Instagram handles, follow other users, start threads, reshare posts, and participate in microblogging.
The description also implies that Threads will launch in many languages, including English and Hindi, and be accessible to anybody over the age of 12.
Instagram Outage Ahead Of ‘Threads Launch Sparked Unrest On Twitter
The Meta-owned social media platform, Instagram suffered a global outage prior to the launch of its Twitter competitor, ‘Threads’. Users in India, particularly in Delhi, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Mumbai reported cases of outage from 9 pm IST to 11 pm IST on 5th July. The global user base residing in Canada, Brazil, Australia, the UK and the US also suffered this wrath. Users turned to Twitter to voice their resentment over the outage.
Instagram down?
— Cameron (@The_CamCam) July 5, 2023I Thought I Was The Only One Experiencing This????♀️. #instagramdown pic.twitter.com/GT9KI5p3B9
— ????Daveno Jamericann????. (@DavenoBrooklynn) July 5, 202310 Million Join Meta-Backed Twitter Rival, ‘Threads’ In First 7 Hours
Meta Chief, Mark Zuckerberg says that the app garnered 10 million users within the first 7 hours of its launch. The app launch has been timed perfectly as Twitter struggles to retain its user base. A report from DataReportal suggests that the Twitter base dropped from 556 million to 373 million within a mere 4-month span (Jan – Apr 2023). Twitter’s advertising audience dwindled by almost 20 per cent compared to the last year.
Meta said that the Treads app launched currently is an ‘initial version’. The firm has planned to roll out an upgraded version of the app with extra features viz. enabling users to interact with others, along the lines of social media apps like Mastodon. Though Threads is an autonomous app, users need to log in to the app using their IG account. Following this, users can customize their ‘Threads’ profile as per their preferences.
Features of ‘Threads’
Apart from discussing everyday topics with your community, the app offers some additional features as listed below:
- Users can like, comment and DM posts
- Users can ‘reshare’ posts by clicking on an icon that resembles Twitter’s ‘retweet’ button
- Users can also share the Threads post to their IG story
- Users of the app will be equipped with greater control over who mentions or replies to them within threads.
- Profiles on Threads can be unfollowed, blocked, reported or restricted.
- If a user blocks an account on Ig, the account will be blocked on Threads as well
