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Threads, a potential rival to Twitter, to launch Thursday

Threads is joining the crowded social media landscape as Twitter undergoes numerous changes.
Threads, a potential rival to Twitter, to launch Thursday
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Threads, a social media app from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will be available for download Thursday. 

The text-based app is being billed as a rival to Twitter.

"Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what'll be trending tomorrow," a description of the app says. 

Screenshots of the app show a similar layout to Twitter. 

After a person writes a "thread," there are options to heart, comment and share the thread. Users will also have options to limit who can see a thread. 

Users who search for the Threads app in the App Store ahead of Thursday will not find it. 

However, they can type "threads" in the search bar on Instagram. An "admit one" ticket will pop up and take users to a new screen.

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Users will then see a ticket with their username and the time when the app will be available for download. By clicking on the prompt that says "Get Threads," users will be taken to the App Store where they can select to have the app download automatically on Thursday. 

Threads is joining the crowded social media landscape as Twitter undergoes numerous changes. Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. Musk said he wanted Twitter to be a place where free speech can thrive. However, he's been criticized for propping up conspiracy theories and what some consider hate speech. Users have also complained about service disruptions.

In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis planned to kick off his presidential campaign on Twitter, but the announcement was marred by technical difficulties. On Saturday, users were alerted that they had exceeded their rate limit.

Musk wrote that Twitter implemented how many tweets a person can see in a day to "address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation."

Whether Threads is a legitimate threat to Twitter remains to be seen. Twitter reportedly has around 372 millions users. Instagram, which will apparently be linked to Threads, has over 2 billion active users. 

SEE MORE: Elon Musk makes it official, names Linda Yaccarino as new Twitter CEO


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