Musk vs Zuckerberg: Meta will launch ‘Threads’ to take on Twitter
ALBAWABA – Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta will launch ‘Threads’, an app that is supposed to take on Twitter, on Thursday, news agencies reported.
The app will be linked to the users’ Instagram accounts, the BBC said Tuesday.
It is available for pre-order on mobile app stores on iPhone and Android operating systems, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) and is listed as “Threads, an Instagram app”.
On Apple’s app store, Threads is described as "Instagram's text-based conversation app".
It will allow users to retain their followers from Instagram, and keep their same usernames, according to Reuters.
More so, Threads is seen as a direct challenge to Musk’s Twitter, which has faced numerous controversies since he bought the company for $44 billion in 2022.
For weeks, the two billionaires, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk, have been openly challenging each other to a cage fight.
It turns out, the cage fight challenge was not a joke.
Twitter vs Threads
Threads could very be what Zuckerberg meant when he agreed to the cage fight challenge.
On Saturday, Musk restricted the number of tweets users could see, citing extreme "data scraping", and Twitter also announced Tuesday that the popular user dashboard, TweetDeck will go behind a paywall in 30 days’ time.
Users will be required to subscribe for the blue check if they want to use the platform.
Meanwhile, it appears from Meta's Threads app that it will be a free service – and there will be no restrictions on how many posts a user can see, the BBC confirmed.
Thread's launch comes after a period of uncertainty at Twitter with Musk restructuring the company, firing thousands and placing many features behind a subscription paywall.
"We're thinking about a decentralized, independent social network for sharing written messages in real-time," Meta said in a statement sent to AFP.
Threads will enable users to "connect directly” with their 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," according to its app store description.
