The parents company of Instagram has open up on why its launched Threads app to compete popular micro blogging platform, Twitter.
In an emerging report gathered by iDeemlawful, the director of Instagram, Adam Mosseri had revealed what necessitate the launch of Threads app adopting mode of Twitter app owned by Elon Musk.
The ‘volatility’ of Twitter under Elon Musk has opened a window to compete. It’s a ‘risky’ bet worth trying, says Instagram President, Adam Mosseri.
While Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are still preparing for a possible cage match, starting today, their two companies are officially battling.
Meta has released Threads app, its standalone Twitter competitor that is based on Instagram’s account system.
According to the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Twitter’s “volatility” and “unpredictability” under Musk provided the opening to compete.
In an interview, Mosseri says that Threads is designed for “public conversations,” a direct reference to how Twitter inc. have described the purpose of the service over the years.
“Obviously, Twitter pioneered the space,” according to Mosseri. “And there are a lot of good offerings out there for public conversations. But just given everything that was going on, we thought there was an opportunity to build something that was open and something that was good for the community that was already using Instagram.”
Meta has been planning to release Threads, its self-described “sanely run” version of Twitter, for a while.
The backlash to Musk’s recent limiting of how many tweets people can see per day was a catalyzing event for getting the app out the door this week, according to internal company documents I’ve seen.
They also say that Meta expects “tens of millions” of people to try Threads within the first few months of availability.
Mosseri has described Threads as a “risky endeavor,” especially since it’s a new app people have to download. Meta has made the onboarding process easier by letting you auto-populate your account info and follow list from your Instagram, which I was able to do quickly after being granted access to Threads earlier today.
“I think it’d be a mistake to underestimate both Twitter and Elon.”
Another dynamic Threads has to contend with is that Twitter has been around for a long time and built up a unique network that is hard, if not impossible, to replicate.
Even with Musk’s antics over the past several months, it’s clear Meta knows that unseating Twitter won’t be easy. “I think it’d be a mistake to underestimate both Twitter and Elon,” says Mosseri.
“Twitter has got a lot of history; it has an incredibly strong and vibrant community on it. The network effects are incredibly strong.”
Threads is strikingly similar to Twitter in key ways. The app’s main feed shows posts (or, as Mosseri calls them, “threads”) from accounts you follow, along with accounts recommended by Instagram’s algorithm.
You can repost something with your own commentary, and replies are featured prominently in the main feed. There is no feed of only people you follow, though that could be added later
