As Twitter continues to flail about under Elon Musk, all eyes are on the newly launched Instagram Threads as a potential replacement. Meta launched Threads on iOS, Android, and the web on July 5th — a little bit ahead of schedule.
Two days in, Mark Zuckerberg said Threads has registered over 70 million accounts, and it’s still growing.
In an interview about Threads with The Verge, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri explains why the platform wants to take on Twitter. “Obviously, Twitter pioneered the space,” Mosseri says. “And there are a lot of good offerings out there for public conversations. But just given everything that was going on, we thought there was an opportunity to build something that was open and something that was good for the community that was already using Instagram.”
Rumors about the new Meta-owned platform were swirling for months, with a March report from Platformer revealing the company was “exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates.” In June, Alex Heath leaked the details of a companywide meeting where the app was shown off and shared the first glimpse at Threads.
Threads is “Instagram’s text-based conversation app” where “communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.” The app is closely tied to Instagram, meaning you’ll get to use the same username across both apps as well as quickly follow all of the accounts you’ve been following on Instagram.
Jul 5, 2023
Soon.If you didn’t already know Instagram’s Threads app is close to launching, perhaps a post from Adam Mosseri will seal the deal.
Jul 5, 2023
RIP to the old Instagram Threads (2019 - 2021).You’d be excused for noticing that the name of Meta’s new Twitter competitor is very familiar. It already launched a different clone app tied to Instagram under the same name in 2019.
Like Google Currents (which entered the Google Graveyard in 2014 and in 2023), Instagram’s Threads name is being recycled after the first iteration was a messaging platform made for “close sharing” that was supposed to do battle with Snapchat until it shut down at the end of 2021.
Hopefully, this version of Threads has a better outcome.
Jul 5, 2023
The Instagram Threads launch countdown jumped forward and is now targeting 7PM ET
Update July 5th, 7:15PM ET: Threads is now available on Android and iOS. Get all the updates right here.
Read Article >Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, may launch a few hours earlier than we expected now that the countdown on Threads.net has suddenly skipped forward and indicates it will end today at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
Jul 5, 2023
Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, briefly went live on the web
Instagram’s new Threads app, a Twitter competitor, isn’t supposed to launch until July 6th, but the web interface went live for a few hours today for everyone to explore. It provided an early look at what to expect from the full Threads app that will launch on iOS tomorrow — and presumably Android, too.
Read Article >Meta briefly made Threads available on the web before pulling profiles offline a few hours later. The Verge was able to access Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s first thread (is that what we call them?!) using the web app, and many other brands and creators including Netflix, Gary Vee, and Instagram.
Jul 5, 2023
Instagram Threads won’t be available in the EU at launch.The Twitter alternative from Meta appears set to launch on July 6th, but the Irish Independent reports that Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has been in contact with the company about the new product and confirmed the launch won’t extend to the EU “at this point.”
Jul 4, 2023
Jay Peters and Jon Porter
Instagram’s Twitter competitor launches July 6th
The Twitter competitor from Meta, Instagram Threads, is expected to launch on July 6th, according to the App Store listing for the app showing a version ready for Apple’s iPhone. Sleuths have also spotted what appears to be an early listing on the Google Play Store, which originally showed up over the weekend.
Read Article >Meta has also added a launch date teaser to the Instagram app. Typing “threads” into the search box (or a number of other keywords) causes a ticket icon to appear on the search bar. Tap it and a spinning ticket appears to show your Instagram username alongside a local launch time translated from 10AM ET on the 6th. The spinning ticket also includes a QR code that links to Threads.net, seemingly the new social media platform’s web portal. Here, you’ll see a countdown timer that’s also due to end at 10AM ET on the 6th.
Jul 1, 2023
Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, briefly showed up on Google Play
Alessandro Paluzzi, a developer who routinely digs into app code to expose unreleased features, tweeted early this morning that Meta’s Twitter clone, Thread, had been released into the Google Play Store. It appears as though that was a mistake, however, because the app is nowhere to be found now.
Read Article >Paluzzi included screenshots that showed off some of the UI elements, including the login screen, which lets users sign in with their Instagram accounts, and another screen with a list of their followed accounts from the image and video site so they can choose who to follow on Threads. Check out the screenshots in this gallery:
Jun 8, 2023
This is what Instagram’s upcoming Twitter competitor looks like
One of Meta’s top executives showed employees a preview of the company’s upcoming Twitter competitor during a companywide meeting today that was watched by The Verge. You can see some of the screenshots above.
Read Article >The new standalone app will be based on Instagram and integrate with ActivityPub, the decentralized social media protocol. That will theoretically allow users of the new app to take their accounts and followers with them to other apps that support ActivityPub, including Mastodon.
May 19, 2023
This is Instagram’s new Twitter competitor
We finally have an idea of what Instagram’s rumored text-based Twitter competitor might look and feel like, as reported by Lia Haberman, who shared in her ICYMI Substack newsletter what appears to be a leaked marketing slide and details about the app.
Read Article >The slide doesn’t give the app a separate name — instead, it just calls it “Instagram’s new text-based app for conversations” — but the app is apparently codenamed P92 or, alternately, Barcelona, according to Haberman. Users will be able to sign in with their Instagram username and password, and your followers, handle, bio, and verification will transfer over from the main app.
Mar 10, 2023
Instagram is working on a decentralized Twitter alternative.The company is in the early stages of creating a “standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” Platformer reports.
The project is codenamed P92 and details are limited. Instagram head Adam Mosseri is reportedly leading the project, which doesn’t have a release timeline yet.
Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network[www.platformer.news]