Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on July 6 launched the much awaited text-based conversation app Threads.
The app, which is launched to take on Elon Musk’s Twitter is designed by Instagram.
“Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” Meta said in an official statement.
The app passed five million sign-ups in its first four hours, Zuckerberg said, according to BBC.
Elon Musk reacted to the launch of Threads by responding to a user’s tweet who claimed that the new app was built by copy-pasting from Twitter. Musk replied with a laughing emoticon.
In another tweet, Musk wrote, “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.”
This was in response to a 2018 email which Musk wrote informing about his decision to quit Instagram.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg also took a dig at Elon Musk’s platform by posting a meme on his Twitter account. This was his first tweet in over a decade. The Meta chief posted the iconic Spider Man facing off meme without a caption.
According to BBC, when Zuckerberg was asked whether Threads app will be “bigger than Twitter”, he responded by saying “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it.”
“Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will,” he added.
The new app can be downloaded from Google Play Store or Apple App Store. To get started with Threads, one simply needs an Instagram account An individual’s Instagram username and verification will carry over, with the option to customize their profile specifically for Threads.
“Everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) will be defaulted into a private profile when they join Threads. You can choose to follow the same accounts you do on Instagram and find more people who care about the same things you do,” Meta said.
The core accessibility features available on Instagram today, such as screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions, are also enabled on Threads, the company said.