Meta Unveils Threads App Seeking To Oust Twitter

Meta is poised to unveil a new app that appears to mimic Twitter — a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by Elon Musk.

Photo Insert: Threads presents the “opportunity to jump to a platform that can give them many of the things that they want Twitter to continue to be that it no longer is.”

A listing for the app, called Threads, appeared on Apple’s App Store, indicating it would debut as early as Thursday.

It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the listing teasing a Twitter-like microblogging experience, Kelvin Chan reported for the Associated Press (AP).

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it said.

Instagram users will be able to keep their user names and follow the same accounts on the new app, according to screenshots displayed on the App Store listing.

Musk replied “yeah” to a tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey saying “all your Threads belong to us,” along with a screenshot from the App Store’s privacy section showing what personal information might be collected by the new Meta app.

Threads could be the latest headache for Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion and has been making changes that have unnerved advertisers and turned off users, including new daily limits on the number of tweets people can view.

Meta has good timing because Twitter users are growing frustrated with Musk’s changes and looking for a viable alternative, said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant.

Threads presents the “opportunity to jump to a platform that can give them many of the things that they want Twitter to continue to be that it no longer is,” he said.

Allowing Instagram users to port their profile to Threads could give the new app more traction with potential users by providing a ready-made set of accounts for them to follow, said Navarra, former director of social media at tech news site The Next Web and digital communications adviser for the British government.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic