Updated 11 a.m. EDT
Meta Platforms (META) shares were higher on Wednesday amid reports that the social media giant will launch a text-based rival to Twitter, expected to be called Threads, over the coming days.
Meta's Apple (AAPL) App Store listing for Threads -- which it calls Instagram's text-based conversation app -- suggests the platform will launch Thursday, and will enable users to keep their usernames and followers from their Instagram profiles.
"Whatever it is you're interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things," Meta's App Store listing says. Threads is “where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today, to what’ll be trending tomorrow.”
Earlier this spring Meta said active users across its family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, rose 2% from a year earlier to just under 3 billion, while daily active users were up 4% from a year ago at 2.03 billion.
Meta Move Follows Changes at Twitter
The move follows a series of controversial changes to the Twitter website, unveiled over the weekend, that limit the number of Tweets both verified and unverified users can see each day.
The changes are part of an effort led by Twitter's controlling owner, Elon Musk, to counter what he called "extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation" on the microblogging website.
The limits, Musk said, would be temporary and would restrict nonverified users to viewing 600 posts per day. Verified accounts, which pay $8 a month, can view 6,000 posts per day.
The totals were later lifted to 1,000 and 10,000 respectively following a series of user complaints and outages on various Twitter-linked platforms.
New Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, who joined the group from NBCUniversal in June, said Tuesday that that Twitter needed to make a "big move to keep strengthening the platform. That's a view echoed in a company statement that said the steps were taken to "ensure the authenticity of our user base."
Meta shares at last check were up 3.4% at $295.86.
July 4th Sale! Get investment guidance from trusted portfolio managers without the management fees. Sign up for Action Alerts PLUS now for 75% off.
