In order to integrate its messaging services, Instagram is introducing a messaging app named ‘Threads’ which is designed to be used only by your closest friends. The app’s existence, which has been revealed earlier in August, is a companion for Instagram that lets you quickly share text, photos, and videos with your “close friends” list.
A New Messaging App For Your Close Friends
As per the official release note, “Called Threads, the standalone camera-first messaging app allows you to share photos, videos, Stories, with close friends from Instagram.”
Although Threads will be a standalone app, messages from close friends will also be visible in the main app’s Direct section. Threads is available globally.
Threads has three core components. The first is the camera, which is the default screen when you open the app. It’s just for taking photos and videos. There are no filters here. The app also offers customizable shortcuts for your close friends, so that if you primarily use the app to message two or three people, you can put their profile picture right on the bottom of the camera screen. Take your picture, tap their photo, and swipe up to send.
The second component of Threads is the inbox, which mirrors your direct messages on Instagram but is limited to your close friends. That means it will likely be the shortest inbox in your life. According to Robby Stein, who leads product development for Instagram’s consumer app, the average user of the close friends’ list has between one and two dozen people on it. It includes group chats, but only if everyone involved is a close friend of yours.
The third is the status screen, which seems likely to be the most controversial aspect of Threads. It’s a modern-day take on the away message that builds on some previous Facebook efforts to bring back AOL away message-style status updates to the social network. To create a status, you pick an emoji and type out a few words or choose from among the many pre-populated statuses that Instagram has created. Then you tell Instagram how long to keep your status visible (from one to four hours).
Also, you can opt in to “auto status,” which will refresh your status throughout the day as you move about your life and update accordingly. Instagram says it won’t store your exact location, but rather uses the information to create “context.”
In all cases, the company says, your status will only be seen by your close friends. Though there are privacy implications but Instagram has enough confidence in the product to launch it globally. It is rolling out now on iOS and Android.
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