Following a public disagreement regarding Meta’s future project, tech titans Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are preparing for a cage fight. Both Musk and Zuckerberg are “deadly serious” about the fight, according to UFC president Dana White. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is preparing to launch Threads, a new software that will compete with Twitter. On Thursday, the text-based discussion app will be available in the US and UK, with an Australian launch still in the works. Like other meta-platforms, Threads will track location, purchases, and browsing history. Threads will offer unrestricted viewing of posts as a free service, unlike recent developments on Twitter.
The Threads app description on the App Store describes it as a forum to discuss a variety of topics. As part of Twitter’s campaign to get users to sign up for its Twitter Blue subscription service, TweetDeck, a popular user dashboard, will become a paid service in 30 days, according to TweetDeck owner Elon Musk. He has limited the number of tweets that consumers can view due to concerns about data scraping. Musk and Zuckerberg agreed to a cage match in June as a result of their escalating antagonism.
In a laughing response to a tweet about Threads, Musk said, “Thank goodness they’re so sanely run”. The Threads app’s dashboard appears to have a similar layout to Twitter’s. With Meta’s Reels resembling TikTok and Stories mimicking Snapchat, Zuckerberg has already been accused of stealing concepts from other sites. Meta has also moved into virtual reality with Metaverse, which is similar to VRChat. Since Musk bought Twitter, other systems, such as Mastodon, have become better known, although Meta dwarfs them in size.
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Musk and Zuckerberg’s Showdown Intensifies as Meta Unveils Threads
The launch of Threads by Meta comes at a time when the company is facing many difficulties. An Instagram post announcing the launch of the Twitter rival described it as a network for text-based chats. Ahead of their supposed cage match, the question is whether Zuckerberg can outperform Musk or vice versa. The format of Threads ought to be similar to that of Twitter, plus features from Instagram’s comments section. Users can interact with other Threads users by posting replies and following hashtags.
While some may accuse Meta of stealing concepts, experts say the company has adapted product features and business strategies. Former executives at Instagram and Snap say Meta’s strategy is smart. Major advertisers have left Twitter since Musk bought the social media network, and the daily post limit has drawn criticism. Musk and Zuckerberg will face off, but with the launch of Instagram Threads, the conflict will take a different form. Zuckerberg has agreed to do so. Although there won’t be any boxing gloves, the stakes are high and a knockout could be on the cards.
