Instagram’s parent company, Meta launched a new Twitter competitor yesterday called Threads. The release comes shortly off the heels of a controversial new “rate limit” feature added to Twitter which limits users to seeing a certain amount of posts per day, favoring those with paid “Twitter blue” subscriptions.
Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October of 2022, many people have been upset at the lack of content moderation and push towards paid subscriptions. Meta’s Threads is seen as a response to this backlash.
As of Thursday morning, only a day after the app’s release, 30 million users are reported to have joined. The app connects directly to the user’s Instagram account and appears very similar to Twitter in both function and layout.
The app’s release also serves to escalate the growing feud between Twitter CEO, Elon Musk and Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Musk tweeted teasing a potential cage match between the two and allegedly sent a letter to Meta threatening legal action and accusing them of hiring ex- Twitter employees to create a copycat application.
Grand Rapids Community College students have had some time to explore the app and so far, the reactions are positive.
Eighteen-year-old GRCC student Victoria Robinson said she prefers Threads for its lack of polarizing political content.
“It seems like a Twitter clone but without the extreme politics so far,” she said. “Twitter had a hard time showing me what I am actually interested in and instead flooded me with things I was not interested in.”
Another GRCC student, Aneabal Mayorga, 22, commented on the potential fight and lawsuit between the two CEOs saying, “As long as there’s no legal contract saying Twitter employees can’t work at Meta, I don’t see the issue. And good, they should fight it out.”
