Facebook parent company Meta has unveiled Threads, its upcoming Twitter competitor, set to launch on July 6, 2023.
Threads is preparing to take on Twitter as the company is going through a turbulent period under CEO Elon Musk, and it will arrive just days after the social media platform rolled out and announced temporary daily restrictions It would put TweetDeck behind a paywall in 30 days.
Threads is currently available for pre-order on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and you can even do something fun on Instagram to get ready for Thursday. All you have to do is open Instagram and search for “threads”. When you do this, a red ticket will appear to the right of the search bar.
If you click on the ticket, you will receive a virtual ticket that you can share. It includes Threads start time (July 6th at 7am PT/10am ET) as well as a countdown, QR code and link to pre-order the app as well as your Instagram name and photo. You can also rotate it and it has a nice shimmering effect with the Threads logo.
“Say more with Threads – Instagram’s text-based conversation app,” reads the official description. “Threads are communities where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics that interest you today to the trends of tomorrow. Whatever interests you, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following to share your ideas, opinions, and creativity with the world .”
Threads also promises that you can keep your Instagram username and find your followers instantly when they join the platform.
While it can be exciting to know that a new social media platform is on the way, some are concerned about the data Threads will reportedly collect. Looking at Threads’ Apple App Store page confirms that the following data may be collected and linked to your identity: health and fitness, financial information, contact information, user contact, browsing history, usage data, diagnostics, purchases, location, contacts , search history, identifiers, confidential information and other data.
However, it’s important to note that Twitter has most of these links as well, missing only health and fitness, financial information, confidential information, and other data.
There have been many other Twitter alternatives that have attempted to compete with the platform, including Bluesky, Mastodon, and more, but Threads definitely has the edge in targeting the more than two billion monthly active Instagram users and the work they do build on the platform and Facebook.
Do you have a tip for us? Would you like to discuss a possible story? Please email [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.