Meta on Wednesday officially launched Threads, its now social media app that the company has been developing as an alternative to Twitter.
Meta is linking Threads to Instagram, which means Instagram usernames port over to Threads, and Instagram users have the option to follow the same people they follow on Instagram.
The launch also seems to be taking advantage of Twitter’s recent gaffes. Over the last few days, the company introduced rate limits for Twitter users, cutting down on the number of tweets that are visible per day. With this decision, Twitter spiked interest in alternative apps. Mastodon and Bluesky are already positioned as Twitter alternatives but have not widely taken off as of yet.
From its own end, Bluesky, which is still in development, has been slowly ramping up and adding beta testers.
Threads allows for simple Instagram conversion and integration, which can help its installation numbers. The application also supports posts that are up to 500 characters in length, with photos, videos, and links supported.
In spite of all this, concerns have been expressed as to the user data Threads may be collecting, and the App Store entry suggests information like usage data, location, contacts, identifiers, purchases, health & fitness, browsing history, and more will be collected and linked to users, but it has the same disclosures as Instagram. Twitter collects and utilizes similar data as well.
Meta has stated that Threads does not appear to be using any data to track users across websites and apps owned by other companies now, making it more private than Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Threads has launched in the United States, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and 100 other countries, but it will not be available in European Union countries at this time due to the Digital Markets Act.
Threads can be downloaded from the App Store for free.
If you’ve tried the app and have any feedback to offer, please let us know about your experience in the comments.