Meta today officially launched Threads, the new social media app that it has been working on as an alternative to Twitter. Threads was meant to launch on Thursday, but the company pushed it live early due to the excitement surrounding its debut.

Threads is described as "Instagram's text-based conversation app," and it is unmistakable as a Twitter clone. With the app, users can post "Threads" that other users can reply to, with Threads from followers showing up in a main timeline.

Meta is linking Threads to Instagram, which means Instagram usernames port over to Threads and Instagram users have the option to follow the same people they follow on Instagram.

Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what'll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you're interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things -- or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.

Twitter over the last few days introduced rate limits for Twitter users, cutting down on the number of tweets that are visible per day. With this decision, Twitter spiked interest in alternative apps. Mastodon and Bluesky are already positioned as Twitter alternatives, but have not widely taken off as of yet.

Bluesky has been slowly ramping up and is not yet widely available to join, which is the issue with that app, while Mastodon's federated setup can be confusing to people who are seeking a simple social media experience.

There have been concerns about the data that the app is collecting, and the App Store entry suggests information like usage data, location, contacts, identifiers, purchases, health & fitness, browsing history, and more will be collected and linked to users, but it has the same disclosures as Instagram. Twitter collects and utilizes similar data as well.

According to Meta, the app does not appear to be using any data to track users across websites and apps owned by other companies at this time, which makes it more private than Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Threads and Instagram share a privacy policy, with more information available on the Instagram website.

Threads is launching in the United States, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and 100 other countries, but it will not be available in European Union countries at this time because of the Digital Markets Act.

Threads can be downloaded from the ‌App Store‌ for free. [Direct Link]