Facebook working on new messaging app to take on Snapchat

San Francisco, August 27 

In a fresh assault on Snapchat, Facebook is developing a new messaging app called "Threads" which will promote sharing your status, location and more with your closest friends.

According to The Verge, "Threads" which is being tested internally at Facebook is meant to be a companion to photo-sharing app Instagram.

"Threads invites users to automatically share their location, speed, and battery life with friends, along with more typical text, photo, and video messages using Instagram's creative tools," the report said late Monday.

Earlier this year, Instagram put an end to "Direct", its standalone camera-first messaging app which was used to send Instagram direct messages.

Initially launched in six countries -- Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Uruguay --Ain 2017, the Direct app came in with plenty of Snapchat-style filters and also allowed users to swipe down from the top of the screen to type messages to their Instagram contacts.

This time, a messaging app built around close friends might be more popular.

"For Facebook and Instagram, which have long coveted Snapchat's strong engagement among younger users, 'Threads' could represent another effort to chip away at their rival's appeal," said the report.

The core of Threads appears to be messaging, and it looks very similar to the existing messaging product inside Instagram.

Photo-messaging app Snapchat is the most preferred social networking platform among the US teenagers, surpassing the user base of Facebook and Instagram in that age-category.

In its latest campaign called #RealFriends, photo-messaging app Snapchat took a jibe at Instagram, asserting that close friends choose Snapchat for sharing personal photo-messages.—IANS

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