Facebook and Instagram are now making it even easier to stay connected to friends and family—but focusing more on your ‘inside circle’. Their new app, ‘Threads’ comes as a sucker-punch to Snapchat with what Instagram is calling “a new camera-first messaging app.”
Facebook & Instagram’s New ‘Threads’ App | Inner-Circle Photo Sharing
This may seem a bit like Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ feature, and it should, because it’s actually an extension of it. Instagram and Facebook have been really hammering down on privacy lately, and this all-new app is pointing more in that direction. Threads is the ‘Close Friends’ feature in app form, and it couldn’t come at a better time!
The Instagram Director of Product, Robby Stein recently commented:
“Threads is a standalone app designed with privacy, speed, and your close connections in mind. You can share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more with your Instagram close friends list. You are in control of who can reach you on Threads, and you can customize the experience around the people who matter most.”
Instagram recently rolled out a ‘Restrict’ feature on the photo-sharing platform. Its goal was to make shadowbanning online bullies and unwanted comments easier. By shadowbanning a user, they were still allowed to comment on your photos, and you could still see them, but they wouldn’t know they were banned and your other followers wouldn’t see their comments unless approved by you. In a way, Threads could be a step in the right direction of putting an end to unwanted accounts viewing photos you’d rather them not see.
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With Threads, sharing photos, videos and even texts with your closest friends will be a breeze. You can even use the Threads feature, ‘Auto Status’ to share ”bits of context” of your location with the curated list without giving away your full coordinates.
All in all, Threads will be a great way to stay connected with your closest friends, revisiting the old days of Instagram. Will it turn into something bigger—a new influencer platform all on its own? Only time will tell. For now, we welcome Threads and can’t wait to start using it for our closest friends’ circles!
