The ongoing rivalry between tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk has entered a new chapter with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announcing the launch of a new app called Threads to directly challenge Twitter. Unlike Meta’s popular photo-sharing platform Instagram, Threads is a text-based conversation app that is set to be released on Apple’s App Store this Thursday, according to a report by Reuters.
While the highly anticipated “billionaire bout” between Musk and Zuckerberg has been making headlines in recent days, the battle of apps between their respective companies is already shaping up to be an intense competition.
Ever since Musk acquired Twitter, he has been eager to take on Meta’s WhatsApp by integrating voice and video calling features into the text-based platform. With an ambitious vision of creating an all-encompassing app, Musk aims to compete directly with Meta’s dominant platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp, in capturing users’ attention and engagement.
However, Zuckerberg’s company is now turning up the pressure on Twitter by introducing Threads, its latest offering. By venturing into the text-based conversation space, Meta is directly challenging Twitter’s core functionality and aiming to attract users who prefer a more focused and streamlined communication experience.
As the rivalry between these tech giants continues to unfold, it remains to be seen how users will respond to Meta’s Threads and whether it will pose a serious threat to Twitter’s market share. Nevertheless, this clash of apps signals a new phase in the ongoing competition between Zuckerberg and Musk, both vying for dominance in the ever-evolving landscape of social media and communication platforms.
What will Threads offer?
As of now, Meta has not made any official announcements regarding Threads. Therefore, any discussions about its capabilities are primarily derived from the descriptions available on app stores and displayed prior to its launch.
Unlike the data-hungry Instagram, Threads could be expected to be lighter on your devices since it will largely use text. From a visual standpoint, differentiating between the app and Twitter would pose a challenge. This similarity extends to any other contenders that have emerged as Twitter rivals in recent times, including Jack Dorsey’s BlueSky initiative.
Threads accounts will be connected to Instagram, enabling users to log in using the same usernames and follow the same accounts as they do on the photo-sharing platform, even within the text-based platform.
Although Thursday, July 6, is the likely launch date for the app, it is unclear if users will be able to post right away. With only two days remaining, Meta might opt for a gradual rollout of the service instead.
Could Twitter’s decline translate into a gain for Threads?
The timing of the release, although coincidental, could hit Twitter hard. Former CEO Elon Musk recently announced temporary limits on the number of tweets users could see per day, leading to a rush of traffic toward BlueSky.
Under Musk, Twitter has begun charging users for access to its application programming interface (API), and is now moving TweetDeck, an app used by news organizations and businesses to monitor Twitter feeds, behind a paywall too. It is believed that Musk is looking to increase the number of subscribers for its Twitter Blue services, which has shrunken in recent months, The Guardian reported.
Considering that Threads can commence its journey with a user base consisting of millions of Instagram users, it possesses the potential to surpass other Twitter rivals in terms of popularity.
Now, Meta has the capacity to directly compete with Twitter, making it a more captivating rivalry to observe than Musk and Zuckerberg’s confrontation in a cage.
