Instagram head Adam Mosseri said today that a Threads API is in the works. This will give developers a chance to create different apps and experiences around Threads.
Mosseri was responding to journalist Casey Newton, who was conversing with a user about a TweetDeck-like experience for Threads. The Instagram head expressed apprehension about publishers posting a bunch of content and in turn, overshadowing creator content.
“We’re working on it. My concern is that it’ll mean a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content, but it still seems like something we need to get done,” Mosseri said in a post.
Later, an engineer working on Threads said that the team would start with endpoints for publishing content for the API.
Mosseri has already taken a stance on news content by saying Threads is not “anti-news” but it “won’t actively amplify news.” Historically, news publications have relied on third-party tools and integrations with different social networks to automatically post on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. With the lack of availability of APIs on newer platforms like Threads, publishers have to manually post content, which is not ideal for news organizations posting a bunch of articles per day.
While Mosseri is concerned about publishers pushing an overwhelming amount of content through API integration, creators also need different tools to post various types of content. It also makes it easier for developers to design features suited for a specific platform if there is the option for an API integration.
With social networks such as Twitter (now X) and Reddit making it difficult for third-party developers to create clients, Threads could open up its API and enable a healthier app ecosystem. Developers have launched some clients for rival networks such as Bluesky and Mastodon, but both networks comparatively have a smaller user base than Threads.
Earlier this week, Meta said that Threads has just under 100 million monthly active users. An API and a third-party app ecosystem won’t necessarily push that number forward, but it will give ways for people to explore the network in alternative ways. The Threads teams have shipped many features in the last few months post-launch. However, if there is a third-party app ecosystem in place, developers can ship features users are looking for.
What’s more, Meta and Mosseri have talked about integrating Threads with the fediverse. So an open ecosystem with a well-maintained API would be a good step toward getting to that goal.