Instagram will soon be launching an called Threads, which will be a direct rival to microblogging platform Twitter. While the upcoming app is scheduled to launch on iOS (and hopefully Android too) on July 6th, its web interface went live for everyone to explore today. It stayed live for a few hours and gave a better understanding of what all can one expect from the upcoming app.
The parent company of Instagram, Meta later pulled the profiles on Threads down a few hours after it went live. Many brands and creators were already present on Threads including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerber, Gary Vee, Netflix, Instagram and others.
Read Also: Instagram is testing a companion app called Threads
From whatever little time Threads was live, its web interface seemed very basic. There were options to view Threads and like, comment, report and share them. Clicking on any option prompted users to download the mobile app. Also, in countries where there is no support for the upcoming app, only the option to view Threads was available. Like Twitter, Threads has a dedicated section for a profile’s main posts and another one with full reply history.
It is worth pointing out that Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, is obviously already present on Threads and has close to 2,500 followers. Meta’s Zuckerberg followed with a little less than 2,000 followers. From all this, it seems like the app’s early access was given to only a few thousand users till now.
While Fediverse integration will not be available at the time of launch of the new app, Instagram will be adding it soon. The profiles on Threads include an Instagram username and link along with threads.net label with a description that reads:
Soon, you’ll be able to follow and interact with people on other fediverse platforms, like Mastodon. They can also find people on Threads using full usernames, like @[email protected].
The upcoming launch of Threads has been teased by Instagram all week. The App Store and Google Play Store listings of Threads revealed the launch date of the app earlier this week and the main threads.net homepage has the launch countdown live on it.
It should be pointed out that Instagram is launching Threads at a time that is quite chaotic for its direct rival Twitter. Just last week, the microblogging website blocked unregistered users from viewing tweets and added temporary rate limits.
Even the platform for scheduling tweets, TweetDeck, completely broke down sometime back and changes had to be rolled out to sort that as well.
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