Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has revealed Threads, its upcoming Twitter rival that is set to launch on July 6, 2023.
Threads on Twitter are preparing as they go through a turbulent time under CEO Elon Musk, arriving just days after the social media platform implemented and announced temporary daily restrictions. That would put TweetDeck behind a paywall within 30 days.
Themes are now available for pre-order Apple App Store and the google play store, And you can also do a bit of fun on Instagram to get ready for Thursday. All you have to do is open instagram and search for ‘threads’ and when you do that a red ticket will appear to the right of the search bar.
When you click Ticket, you’ll get a virtual ticket that you can share that includes the thread launch time (July 6 at 7am PT / 10am ET), a countdown, a QR code, a link to pre-order the app, your Instagram name, and your photo. You can also rotate it and it has a nice shiny effect with the threads logo.
The official description reads “Say more with Topics – Instagram’s text-based conversation app”. “Threads are where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’s trending tomorrow. Whatever interests you, you can follow it and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or create Your very own loyal following for sharing your thoughts, opinions and creativity with the world.”
Threads also promises that you will be able to keep your Instagram username and instantly find your followers when they join the platform.
While it may be exciting to learn that a new social media platform is on its way, some are concerned about the data their threads claim they will collect. If you take a look at Apple’s App Store page for Chains, it confirms that the following data may be collected and associated with your identity; Health, fitness, financial information, contact information, user contacts, browsing history, usage data, diagnostics, purchases, location, contacts, search history, identifiers, sensitive information, and other data.
It’s important to note, however, that Twitter has most of these links too, missing only health and fitness, financial information, sensitive information, and other data.
There have been many other Twitter alternatives that have tried to rival the platform, including Bluesky, Mastodon, and others, but Threads certainly has the advantage of advertising to the more than 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram and building the work they have done on the platform and Facebook.
Do you have a tip for us? Want to discuss a potential story? Please send an email to [email protected].
Adam Pankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @employee and on twitch.
More Stories
JPMorgan expects the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points this year
NVDA Shares Drop After Earnings Beat Estimates
Shares of AI chip giant Nvidia fall despite record $30 billion in sales