At the start of October, Instagram launched Threads, the new messaging app designed for your closest friends.
Essentially, it’s a companion app for quickly sharing text, photos and videos with your close friends list. Beyond that, it encourages users to passively share more intimate data such as current location and status. Snapchat users will be familiar with the concept – it feels like Instagram does Snapchat Messenger.
Looking at the bigger picture, the value in this update to businesses may be in the data it collects. The amount of permissions the app requires in terms of location, movement and battery levels are going to create ever more accurate profiles of users. Instagram can then use this data to further develop its advertising platform.
