Powerful Threads Social Network Challenges Twitter’s Dominance 2024
The new Threads app is designed by the giant that owns Facebook and Instagram. Social media mimics Twitter in its interface and user experience.
Threads was officially launched by Meta, the giant owner of Facebook and Instagram, and is a platform similar to the text version of Instagram and aims to compete with Twitter. “Welcome to Threads,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, and Facebook founder, wrote in his first post on the new social network.
Threads registered ten million subscribers in the first seven hours after launch then jumped to more than 30 million according to US media. According to Simafor, Twitter allegedly threatened to sue Meta: The site cites a letter from Twitter's lawyer, Alex Spiro, in which the lawyer accuses Meta of hiring former employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information.”
“No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Tweet employee,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone responded in a Threads post. Meanwhile, Elon Musk wrote in response to a tweet reporting the news: “Competition is good, cheating is not.”
Threads did not yet exist in Europe
For a while, Threads won't be available at launch in Europe for a while. This was confirmed by the Irish Privacy Guarantee, which was heard from the Irish Independent.
According to the regulator, unlike the US and UK, Meta will have to meet stricter requirements regarding the Threads app, which relies on Instagram's existing network to restore its user base and contacts. An application that follows Twitter's lines, which focuses on short-form and text content, will not yet meet all the indicators required by the European market for such services, including methods for sharing data between applications of the same group and the physical location of users.
A spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the platform had not yet been ready for an EU launch for some time, “not at the moment,” explains the Irish Independent. The service, which the regulator specifies, has not been blocked in Europe but could do so if, when available, it does not comply with rules imposed by the EU's personal data protection regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
In the Threads app notes, the platform informs users that it will collect a variety of data, including health and financial information, browsing history, location, purchases, contacts, search history, and sensitive information. These are contents that are actually owned by Meta and obtained using Instagram. In the recent past, the Irish regulator banned Meta from launching WhatsApp advertising services that use data from Facebook and Instagram.
What is Threads?
The application developed by Meta had already appeared on the digital stores of Apple and Google a few days ago and there is also a dedicated website. According to rumors, Meta's plans have accelerated recently in light of some Twitter issues, from the chaos around blue checks to the recent announcement to limit daily tweet viewing.
Earlier this year, Chris Cox, chief product officer at Meta Platforms, said the company aimed to create a “sanely managed” chat app.
Threads is a text-only social network designed to publish short posts in which you can mention other users and insert links, with a process roughly similar to that of Twitter and other services like Mastodon, which is currently the main competitor to Musk's platform.
Everyone registered on Instagram will also be able to use the same account on Threads and will be able to import the list of subscribers to their profile and the people they follow.
The app will remain separate and with distinct functions from those of Instagram. One of Threads' new features should be the ability to connect to federated and decentralized social networks like Mastodon, otherwise known as “federivers.”
In conclusion
During the day, Elon Musk commented on the launch of Threads, his Twitter competitor. “It is a thousand times better to have anonymous people attack you on Twitter than to indulge in fake happiness on platforms like Instagram that hide the pain,” he wrote on the social media platform he purchased last October, referring to the fact that Threads is accessible.
With Instagram credentials and many similar features. Zuckerberg tweeted for the first time since 2021, posting a photo of two identical Spider-Man fighters.
