Taking on a super similar look to everyone’s favourite (JK) social media app is Mark Zuckerberg’s latest, Instagram Threads, which hopes to replace the pre-Elon Musk version of Twitter that everyone seems to be longing for.
Via Instagram
Yeah, the one in which people were able to tweet as much as their hearts desired and they didn’t have to pay for a Twitter Blue subscription to add to the flurry of verified? unverified? blue-tick accounts on the media-sharing platform.
babe, you ok? you’ve hardly touched your rate limit
— Pretty Good Mike (@mkhdrk) July 5, 2023
In what seems like a direct response to Musk’s rate limits that practically shut down Twitter this past week, Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, announced Threads’ launch. The app is described as a place where “communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” on the Apple App Store where it is currently available for pre-order.
Via Instagram
Instagram’s text-based conversation app will officially launch as a free service on July 6, 2023. There is even a countdown for it!
Should you sign up for Instagram Threads?
Based on the promotional material, it looks like Threads is hoping to fill the Twitter-shaped hole in people’s hearts.
In the past, apps like Mastodon and Bluesky have tried to compete with Twitter. Threads looks like it could be the most successful alternative to the social media platform. Users who already have Instagram will be able to sign up for Threads and connect with existing friends on the app.
Once Threads launches, you could post text on Instagram. That will make it……..Facebook.
We came full circle to the original social network. Thanks Elon.
— Aamir Siddiqui (@aamirsidd94) July 4, 2023
If you, like me, use Twitter (way more than you should for your own good), maybe signing up for Instagram Threads isn’t such a bad idea. However, many are voicing their thoughts over Meta’s privacy concerns. As per The Guardian, Threads “can collect data related to your health, financial information, contact information, browsing history, location and purchases, among other things.”
Via Instagram
Twitter users have the funniest responses to the whole thing, as expected, and it has us in stitches.
Really scared about the launch of the Threads app because I’m gonna have to break the news to everyone on Instagram that I’m really weird
— niamh (@arealglitterbae) July 4, 2023
ok hear me out. rate limit, but on slack.
— Gul Chandna (@gulchandna) July 5, 2023
I’ll still take the rate limit over having to tweet in front of everyone I know in real life idgafff https://t.co/l8Jx34frGM
— Маделейн . (@normalmadeline) July 4, 2023
So… what are we thinking? Threads or Twitter?