Twitter alternative: What is Meta Threads set to launch this week, how it works on Instagram

Facebook owner Meta is launching a new app to rival Twitter this week as the microblogging site comes under fire for limiting non-paying users to reading 600 posts a day recently. But could it serve as an alternative for the Twitter users fed up with owner Elon Musk’s vision of the platform?

Called Threads, the app is described as a “text-based conversation app..where communities come together”, It is available for pre-order in the Apple App Store and will go live on Thursday (July 6).

The app’s blurb on the Apple website reads: “Say more with Threads - Instagram’s text-based conversation app. Threads is where communities come together to discuss anything 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 favourite 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.”

The move is the most recent salvo in a war of words between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Musk. It’s unclear how serious the two men were about actually staging a bout when they agreed to a physical one last month.

Musk apparently took another shot at Zuckerberg by responding to a tweet about Threads with, "Thank goodness they’re so sanely run."

The launch of the new app follows Twitter’s announcement that TweetDeck will be the next section of the company to be restricted to users who have paid for verified status. According to a message from Twitter Support on Monday evening, the application, which allows users to manage various feeds and searches, will be available only to verified users in 30 days.

This is Musk’s newest initiative to encourage people to subscribe to Twitter’s premium service, Twitter Blue. The billionaire banned access to his tweets on Saturday, claiming that excessive "data scraping" was to blame.

Threads, on the other hand, gives the impression of being ad-free and without limits on the number of posts a user can view and it may represent Twitter’s greatest challenge to date.

Zuckerberg has a history of stealing concepts from other businesses and turning them into successes. Reels on Meta is often compared to TikTok, and Stories is often compared to Snapchat.

How does it work on Instagram?

According to screenshots from the App Store’s listing, it shows how you can log in with your Instagram handle, find the accounts you follow on Instagram on the new app, and post it using an interface similar to Twitter.

How many Twitter rivals are there?

Apps like Donald Trump’s Truth Social and Mastodon, which are very similar to Twitter, have emerged in recent years. Bluesky, a competing app, said it experienced "record" traffic after Musk’s weekend restrictions.