Facebook officially revealed that it is launching a camera-first private-messaging companion, “Threads”, for its popular photo-sharing platform Instagram. This can be the start of a head-on social media war with the company’s smaller rival Snapchat.
How is it Different from Instagram and Snapchat?
Threads may seem very similar to Snapchat and Instagram, as it is centered around photos. But what differentiates it is the concept behind its foundation. It is meant to focus on keeping close friends connected. So, it is a private circle thing instead of being a public interaction platform.
Close Friends Only
Instagram claims Threads to be a “Close friends only” app. Users can share their stories with only a smaller group of people. Also, one can upload status, share location and even their battery status with their close friends.
So, you can choose from a suggested status (Studying), create your personalized status (Procrastinating), or turn on Auto Status (On the move), which automatically shares little bits of context on where you are but without sharing your coordinates.
Passive Sharing with Auto Status
Enabling the “auto status” feature automatically updates your status based on current location and battery life whether your phone’s going to be dead.
However, it is totally an opt-in feature. Also, as per Facebook, the precise location information collected for auto status will be restricted to Threads and will not be used for ads
Disappearing Images
All media sent to your close friends can be viewed twice before it disappears. One can also select the option ‘View Once’ which will auto-delete the media after it’s viewed once.
Will it work? Will users shift from Snapchat to the FB-branded Threads? Time will tell, but it’s quite clear that Facebook wants to overtake and beat Snapchat.
