By Adedapo Adesanya
Meta will on Thursday launch a new app called Threads to rival Twitter at a time when users of the platform seek out alternatives following recent difficult user experiences.
The Threads app, which is linked to Instagram, appeared in the Apple app store on Tuesday ahead of Thursday (July 6) launch.
A preview of the “text-based conversation” app says Threads will be a place “where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.”
“Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world,” the promotional text said.
Screenshots suggest people will be able to use their Instagram handle to log in to Threads and follow their existing contacts.
The app appears to share a similar user interface to Twitter, with similar features, including reposting, liking and allowing users to limit who can reply to posts.
While Threads is seen as a Twitter rival, it was originally the name of a 2019 app Meta launched to compete with the youth-focused messaging app Snapchat.
However, the product was later abandoned, but Meta retained the branding.
Meta will join a growing field of platforms, including BlueSky and Mastodon, competing to replace Twitter which has become difficult for its estimated 250 million users to access since Mr Musk took over for $44 billion late last year and the site.
Last week, Twitter began requiring users to log in to view the site, changing a norm where people without Twitter profiles could view tweets.
Mr Musk then imposed a limit on the vast majority of users who do not pay for the platform, restricting unverified accounts to viewing 600 tweets a day, later upped to 1,000.
His latest announcements to address data scraping have sparked a fierce backlash from Twitter users and advert experts who said it would undermine new CEO Ms Linda Yaccarino, who started in the role last month.
On Tuesday, the company announced it would make its list-based Tweetdeck product – used mostly by businesses and news organisations – accessible only to users paying for its subscription based, Twitter Blue.
