Threads, the new Meta app, launched with download problems

Threads, the social messaging network with which Meta intends to compete with Twitter, started this wednesday with download problems after the technology company led by Mark Zuckerberg brought forward its launch, initially scheduled for tomorrow.

(Read more: Will Threads, Meta’s new social network, work in Colombia?)

At 23:00 GMT this Wednesday, the countdown for the download of Threads ended, advertised on a web page along with a QR code, although it is a market arrival with two major exceptions: European Union countries and Android phones do not have access.

In the first few minutes of availability on the Apple App Store, many people tried to download the application without success and went precisely to Twitter to complain about it, while others shared screenshots showing off their new profiles on Threads.

Yesterday the intention of Meta -owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp- to launch this new social network that had been in development for some time and whose presentation seems to have accelerated in response to Twitter’s restrictions on reading daily messages and content on open.

(See: The new ‘buts’ to Twitter that Meta and other competitors take advantage of)

The application appears as “an Instagram app” for the “conversation” and its operation is linked to the social network of photos, since the username is maintained, you can follow the same people and choose who can reply to messages.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in a first message on Threads that he already has “open doors”although he acknowledged that it will take “a while to spread”, and said he hopes it will become a “open and friendly platform”.

As indicated to The Verge, is available in 100 countries, excluding European ones “because of the complexities with the fulfillment of some laws that will take effect in the next year”presumably on the competitiveness of digital companies.

Dubbed by the American media as “Twitter killer” (Twitter killer), Threads shoots the bird’s net from its very name, since that word in English means “threads” and it is part of their own vocabulary, in addition to sounding like “threats” (threats).

(Read more: Facebook Matrix prepares the launch of an app that will compete with Twitter)

Its interface is also very similar to that of Twitter, but simpler: messages are grouped into two tabs, one called “threads” (like the one on Tweets) and another “answers”and messages can receive hearts, comments, and forwards (like retweets), as well as being shared.

In this sense, the head of Instagram said in the interview that “Twitter was a pioneer of space” but “given everything that’s going on”the company has seen “an opportunity to build something that was open and good for the community that was already using it” the social network of photos.

It was a veiled reference to the ups and downs that Twitter has experienced since billionaire Elon Musk bought the social network last year, since he has imposed different formulas to try to make it profitable, how to charge for verified accounts, and now, limit their daily use to combat the “bots”.

(See: Why is Twitter now restricting the reading of posts?)

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Musk separately yesterday raised concerns about the privacy of Threads, which will collect all kinds of user data, including identity, health and fitness, finances, contacts, or “sensitive information”.

After the launch of the new rival of Twitter, both remained silent, as well as Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO, at least on that platform.

Meta shares today shot up about 3% in a bad session on Wall Street and continued to rise almost 1% in electronic operations, a sign of good reception in the market. Twitter went public after the Musk acquisition, so the data on its value is no longer public.

EFE