The Launch Of Instagram's Threads Hits Snapchat's Stock

Snap Inc SNAP shares are falling on Thursday amid the latest battle with Facebook Inc's FB Instagram.

Instagram has a history of copying innovative features from Snapchat, including filters and stories. The company is at it again, introducing Threads, a new messaging app for your close friends. The new feature will let users quickly share text, photos, and videos with those on your "close friends" list.

The Verge first reported on Threads back in August.

"Over the last few years, we’ve introduced several new ways to share visually on Instagram and connect with people you care about," Instagram said in a blog post. "But for your smaller circle of friends, we saw the need to stay more connected throughout the day, so you can communicate what you’re doing and how you’re feeling through photos and videos. That’s why we built Threads, a new way to message with close friends in a dedicated, private space."

Threads is a companion app to Instagram, and has three components:

• The camera, which is the default screen when opening the app, mimicking Snapchat.
• The inbox, a similar feature to Instagram’s direct messaging platform but only for your closest friends. The Verge says the average user has between one and 24 people on their close friends list.
• The status screen, which might remind many of the AOL Instant Messenger away message-style status updates.

The new app come with significant privacy concerns, as the app will request your location, movement, battery level and network connection from your phone in order to determine what context to share.

Snap shares are down 4% at $14.20 in Thursday's trading session, although the stock is still up 150% year to date.

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