Facebook owner, Meta will be launching a new text-based conversation app called Threads in order to rival Twitter. The platform has been scheduled to be launched on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
The introduction of the new application marks another phase of the ongoing rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in October. The two renowned billionaires recently garnered attention when they engaged in a widely shared social media exchange, in which they humorously agreed to a cage fight against each other.
The release of ‘Threads’ follows an announcement by Twitter that TweetDeck, a popular tool for managing multiple accounts, will be restricted to users who have obtained verified status through a paid subscription.
The Threads app will function similarly to Twitter. Users can create text-based posts that can be liked, commented on, and shared. The app will allow individuals to follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram while retaining their existing usernames.
The app is available for “pre-order” and is “expected” on Thursday, according to the App Store listing. There, The Threads app is described as “where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today, to what’ll be trending tomorrow.”
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, Meta is renowned for borrowing ideas from competitors, and though it doesn’t always succeed, when it eventually does, Meta can catch on quickly. For example, the feature for posts that disappear after 24 hours, called “stories,” was copied from Snapchat in 2016. Now, more people use that format on Meta’s apps than they use Snapchat.
Also, Meta’s recent short-video feature called “reels” is similar to TikTok. Now, company executives have said that reels are driving growth on both Instagram and Facebook. Reports also showed that more than 3 billion people daily used at least one of Meta’s apps — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — in the first quarter of the year.
