Facebook to Release New App for Information Sharing

Facebook is preparing to take on Snapchat yet again, with a new app built on top of Instagram to facilitate ever more intimate sharing of information between close friends.

The new app is called Threads, which broke the news of its existence. The app, which is being tested internally at Facebook, builds on the close friends feature introduced in Instagram last year, which allows users to specify a subset of their followers with whom they are comfortable sharing more private posts and stories.

Though Instagram stopped developing companion messaging app Direct in May 2019, it never ceased its work on Threads, according to The Verge.

On other hand, Instagram employees who work on messaging were moved to the Facebook Messenger team earlier this year as part of a broader consolidation between the parent company and its prized acquisition.

 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported in March, that he sees private messaging as the future of the company. Threads appears to represent the company’s latest effort to make that vision a reality.

Noteworthy, Instagram added an option for users to report posts they think are false as the Facebook-owned photo-sharing site tries to stem misinformation and other abuses on its platform.

Facebook started using image-detection on Instagram y to find content debunked on its flagship app and also expanded its third-party fact-checking program to the app.