San Francisco, Jul 4 (IANS): Meta's Twitter competitor, Instagram Threads, is expected to launch on Thursday, according to an App Store listing for the application.

"Say more with Threads -- Instagram’s text-based conversation app. Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow," Meta said.

With the new application, users will be able to follow and connect directly with their favourite creators and others.

They will be able to "build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world", according to the company.

Last week, Meta's Twitter competitor briefly appeared on the Google Play Store.

Since January, Threads has been under development at Meta under the name "Project 92".

"We've been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution," Meta chief product officer Chris Cox had said.

Cox also said that the new app would be "our response to Twitter".

This application is the reason behind the anticipated showdown between Twitter-owner Elon Musk and Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.