Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is here. Can Zuckerberg’s app match Musk’s?

globalnews.ca:

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to square off with rival billionaire and Twitter owner Elon Musk, but not necessarily in a supposed cage match the two tech titans have been teasing about as of late.

Threads — Meta’s apparent challenge to Twitter in the microblogging social media space — could have a “killer advantage” that separates it from similar challenges, according to tech analysts, but some question whether the Zuckerberg-run app will fare any better than Musk’s efforts.

Threads launched to users in Canada, the U.S. and more than 100 other countries on Wednesday evening. It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the Apple App Store listing teasing a Twitter-like microblogging experience.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” says the listing.

Meta’s plans to roll out an app mimicking the Twitter experience come as the platform faces increasingly fresh challenges and criticisms under Musk’s ownership.

Twitter has rolled out a series of changes in recent days, including a limit on the number of tweets users can see in a day and a requirement for users to be verified to use the online dashboard TweetDeck.

That comes after a slew of controversial decisions from Musk in the name of promoting free speech on the app, which tech analyst Carmi Levy says has pushed advertisers and users away from the platform and put its future in doubt.

Levy says that Meta’s timing in launching Threads as Twitter struggles could be the final nail in the platform’s coffin.

“Twitter has been a never-ending, slow-motion trainwreck for months, skidding from one disaster to another,” he tells Global News.