Facebook working on Snapchat-alternate Threads

Facebook is reportedly planning to bring a companion app for its photo-sharing app Instagram, which will offer private space for intimate messaging between close friends and family.

The social media company's new app Threads is still under works and for now, its features include the option to share location, speed and battery life details, The Verge reported citing the screen-shot of the app under testing.

Also, Threads app can be used to share personal photos and videos with loved ones.

All the aforementioned features seem to imitate Snapchat. This can be construed as Facebook's attempt to lure the teenage population, who mostly use private messaging apps to communicate with friends.

If recent reports are to be believed, US teenagers in the age group of 13 and 17, of whom 95-percent have access to smartphones spend more time on Snapchat than any other social media platform.

It can be noted that Instagram for long, tested a camera-first messaging app 'Direct' but dropped it six months ago. Reports had indicated that employees testing the app were frustrated with switching between two standalone applications-- Direct and Instagram.

There is no word on when Facebook plans to bring the 'Threads' app to the market. And, it will be interesting to know how the people will respond to the new messaging app, given the bad reputation of the social media company's flawed privacy system.

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