Meta to launch microblogging app ‘Threads’ to rival Musk’s Twitter

Social media giant Meta is planning to launch a new microblogging app named Threads this week, as Elon Musk’s Twitter continues to garner criticism over the platform’s new limits on tweet-viewing.

According to Meta’s App Store listing, the Threads app will be released this Thursday, enabling users to retain their Instagram followers and username.

‘’Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,’’ the app’s App Store description reads. ‘’Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite 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.’’

Meta’s release of the Twitter-like app comes at a time when Musk continues to announce major changes to the platform he acquired for $44 billion in October.

The latest announcement he has made that resulted in another controversy is the new ‘temporary’ cap on the number of tweets that users with/without a Blue subscriptionship can view a day.

Following the takeover, he also replaced the company’s previous legacy program with Blue, announced a general amnesty for suspended accounts, laid off around 80% of the company’s workforce including members of its Trust and Safety teams, and replaced its previous free API with a paid plan, killed all third-party Twitter clients…

Such changes and concerns over the platform’s content moderation caused Twitter to lose more than 500 of its top advertisers although the billionaire recently said that advertisers are now returning.

At the same time, these changes also prompted many users to look for and switch to Twitter alternatives like Mastodon and Blue Sky. However, despite a significant growth in their user count, none of them are currently in a position to dethrone Twitter.

Meta, on the other hand, has become known for adapting rival platform’s highly-attractive features to its own products. For example it launched Stories, which is currently one of the most-used features on Instagram, quite similar to what we know Snapchat is for. Its short-video feature Reels, meanwhile, is becoming more and more popular on both Instagram and Facebook, while challenging the growth of its main rival TikTok.

Given its vast user base and experience in luring the users of other platforms to its own services, Meta seems to have a great potential to turn its upcoming Threads app into a strong Twitter rival.

Threads is currently available for pre-order on Apple’s App Store, but Meta’s Play Store plans remain unknown for now.