Twitter users have been facing a lot of issues over the past few months, but things got even worse last weekend after the company decided to limit the number of tweets users can see per day. To take advantage of this, Meta now seems to have confirmed that Threads – its new app to compete with Twitter – will be released later this week.
Meta’s Threads coming later this week
On Monday, a page that lets iPhone users pre-order Threads was made available on the App Store. The same page confirms that the app will be released on July 6-7 (depending on which country the user lives in). Meta has also launched a new webpage with a countdown ahead of the release.
Meta has been working on Threads for some time now, and it became known after some reports in May about the “Barcelona” project. Developed under the Instagram brand, Threads aims to be a direct competitor to Twitter, allowing users to share text, photos, and videos.
“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world,” says the app description.
Although Threads is based on Instagram, it will have its own app. Expectedly, those with an Instagram account will be able to join the new platform with just a tap. However, some details are still unclear – such as whether users will be able to access Threads through a web browser. Another detail to keep in mind is that, at least for now, the app has no iPad version.
9to5Mac has heard from people familiar with the matter that Meta was first planning to launch Threads at the end of July. However, as many Twitter users are upset with the platform, Meta has decided to rush the launch of its new microblogging social network.
Twitter announces new limits for users
On Saturday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that users will now have a limit on the number of tweets they can see per day. At first, Musk enacted a limitation of 6,000 posts per day for verified accounts, 600 for unverified users, and 300 for newly registered accounts.
Right after the new limits were released, many users complained that they simply could no longer access anything on Twitter. After that, Musk generously increased the limits twice. Now users who pay for Twitter Blue can read 10,000 tweets daily, while unverified users can read 1,000 tweets. New accounts can only read 500 tweets per day.
Top comment by Tom
It’s hard to root for a Twitter alternative if it’s coming from Meta. The world would be a better place if both companies ceased to exist.
While Musk claims that the limits are measures to prevent “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation,” the reality is that Twitter is trying to cut costs in any way it can.
9to5Mac’s Take
As I once said here, it’s hard to say whether Meta will succeed in developing a Twitter competitor. However, the company has plenty of experience in creating (and copying) social networks. Instagram currently has over 1 billion users, while Twitter has around 400 million. If half of Instagram’s users decide to use Threads, that’s already more than the number of users Twitter has.
We’ve seen multiple interesting alternatives to Twitter, like Mastodon and Bluesky – but none of them have found mass appeal. And that’s something Meta knows how to get, whether you like the company or not.
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