On Thursday, Meta will launch a new service called Threads. Elon Musk shouldn’t be happy about that. Because behind it hides an alternative to the short message service Twitter.
Image: Meta
“Threads are communities where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics that interest you today to the trends of tomorrow,” reads the app’s official description. The service has been listed on Google Play and the App Store since Monday. The release is planned for tomorrow Thursday.
In this country, however, the service will not be available for the time being. As recently announced, Threads will initially only be released in the US and UK. It is not known when other regions of the world will follow. Data protectionists had previously expressed concerns that the app was not GDPR-compliant.
What exactly is Threads?
Threads is very similar to Twitter. Users can write short messages and publish them on the platform. There they can be commented on, shared or given a like by other users. “Whatever interests you, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal fan base to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.” the developers.
There are many Twitter competitors. However, Threads has the great advantage that the service is linked directly to Instagram and you can simply transfer your existing profile to the short message service – including all followers. Switching to Threads should therefore be much easier for many people than switching to Mastodon, for example.
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For Twitter, the release tends to come at a bad time. Since the purchase by Elon Musk, the platform has been repeatedly criticized. Just a few days ago, Twitter caused dissatisfaction with a sudden ad limit. Regular users can only see a maximum of 600 posts per day. For verified users (subject to a fee), the limit is 6,000 posts. This tense atmosphere could also play into the hands of threads at the start.