Threads gives Instagram's network a new place for public text
Meta launches Threads in more than 100 countries, using Instagram accounts to seed a text-focused social network with posts, replies and familiar safety controls.
Meta launched Threads today on iPhone and Android in more than 100 countries. People sign in with Instagram, retain their username and can follow the same accounts, reducing the work of assembling a new social graph from nothing.
Posts can contain up to 500 characters, links, photographs and videos as long as five minutes. Users can reply, repost and quote, while Instagram's controls support blocking, restricting and filtering. A following-only feed and several expected web features are absent at launch.
Threads arrives while many users are reconsidering where to hold public conversations online. Instagram gives it immediate scale, but also ties the new service to Meta's existing identity and moderation systems. The company says it plans compatibility with ActivityPub, the open protocol used by Mastodon and other federated networks. Delivering that promise could make leaving or interacting across services easier; first, Threads must prove its fast start can become a distinct community.
Source: Meta Newsroom ↗