Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Saturday said that the company is working on a Threads application programming interface (API) to help developers build different apps and experiences around the X rival.
In a post, Mosseri said Instagram is working on the API feature.“We’re working on it. My concern is that it’ll mean a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content, but it still seems like something we need to get done,” Mosseri added.
A Threads user responded that API opens the door to fun creator things that people loved about Twitter like interactive personas, joke bots, thread summaries, etc.“But also, things that added tremendous value to Twitter like automated govt. agencies like transit disruptions and what would’ve been useful today, earthquake notices,” the user posted.
Instagram’s Threads has reached almost 100 million monthly users, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this week. During the company’s quarterly earnings call, Zuckerberg said: “We’re three months in now, and I’m very happy with the trajectory.”
“I’ve thought for a long time there should be a billion-person public conversations app that is a bit more positive,” he told the analysts. He further said that if we keep at this for a few more years, “then I think we have a good chance of achieving our vision there.”
Meta launched Threads in July as a Twitter competitor but it soon lost steam and began losing users owing to the lack of Twitter-like features.“Threads also remains a compelling long-term opportunity, and we’re excited to build on the strong product momentum we have going into next year,” said Meta CFO Susan Li during the call.
Earlier this month, Mosseri said that Threads is not going to amplify news on the platform. In a post on Threads, Mosseri said they are not anti-news and news is clearly already on Threads.“People can share news; people can follow accounts that share news. We’re not going to get in the way of any either. But, we’re also not going to amplify news on the platform,” he noted.