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BBC Pidgin of Thursday, 6 July 2023

Source: BBC

Threads: Key tins to know about di new 'Instagram app' wey wan flex muscle wit Twitter

Threads by Instagram Threads by Instagram

Meta wey get Facebook and Instagram don launch one new app, Threads, wey di company chief Mark Zuckerberg say di goal na to beat Twitter.

Sabi pipo say Threads fit attract Twitter users wey belle no sweet dem ontop di recent changes wey dey happun for di platform.

Threads - go allow users to post up to 500 characters, and get many features wey dey similar to Twitter.

Oga Zuckerberg say di app pass five million sign-ups for di first four hours dem launch.

E bin don tok earlier say keeping di platform "friendly... go ultimately be di key to im success".

But Twitter chief Elon Musk respond say: "E dey preferable to be attacked by strangers ontop Twitter, dan participate inside di false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram."

Wen dem ask am ontop Threads weda di app go dey "bigger dan Twitter", Mr Zuckerberg say: "E go take some time, but I tink say dem suppose be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ pipo ontop.

"Twitter bin don get di opportunity to do am but dem no fit nail am. Hopefully we go do am."

Competitors meanwhile don criticise di amount of data di app fit use. E fit include health, financial, and browsing data wey dey linked to users' identities, according to di Apple App Store.

Wetin be di features of Threads?

Meta say di new app na "initial version", with extra features wey dem plan for am to get including di ability to interact wit pipo on oda social media apps like Mastodon.

"Our vision wit Threads na to take wetin Instagram dey do best and expand am to text," di firm tok before e launch.

Although Threads na standalone app, users fit log in using dia Instagram account. Dia Instagram username go carri over, but option dey to customize dia profile specifically for Threads.

Users go also dey able to choose to follow di same accounts dem dey follow for Instagram, Meta tok. Di app dey allow users to dey private on Instagram, but public on Threads.

Several oda alternatives to Twitter dey available, like Bluesky and Mastodon, but dem don struggle to gain traction.

Threads get a significant advantage becos e dey connected to Instagram, and di hundreds of millions of users wey already dey on dat platform.

How Threads go work?

On Threads, posts go fit dey shared to Instagram and vice versa and fit include links, photos, and videos of up to five minutes in length.

Users go see posts, wey Meta call "threads", from pipo dem dey follow as well as recommended content.

Dem go dey able to control who fit "mention" dem and filter out replies to posts wey contain specific words.

Unfollowing, blocking, restricting or reporting oda profiles also dey possible, and any accounts users pesin block for Instagram dey automatically blocked on Threads.

While Meta tok well-well about di ties to Instagram, media coverage don focus on im similarity to Twitter and some investors don describe di app as a "Twitter killer".

I fit access Threads for my kontri?

Threads no go launching for di European Union for now sake of regulatory concerns - but e dey available to download in over100 kontries including Nigeria and UK.

But di company say dem dey look into launching am for di EU.

Dis dey come as Twitter boss Elon Musk on Saturday restrict di number of tweets users fit see on di platform per day, sake of wetin e say na maximum "data scraping".

Dis na di latest in di series of changes Musk don make since e take over Twitter.

Twitter don also announce say im popular user dashboard TweetDeck go behind a paywall in 30 days time.

All dis sabi pipo say no make users belle to sweet dem.