Meta Launches Threads API for Developers to Create Unique Integrations

Meta has officially launched the Threads API, fulfilling its promise to release it by the end of June. This free API allows developers to create unique integrations with Threads, potentially leading to third-party apps for Meta’s competitor to what was previously known as Twitter.

“People can now publish posts via the API, fetch their content, and leverage our reply management capabilities to set reply and quote controls, retrieve replies to their posts, hide, unhide or respond to specific replies,” explains Jesse Chen, director of engineering at Threads.

Chen also highlights that insights into Threads posts are “one of our top requested features for the API.” To address this, Meta enables developers to access data such as the number of views, likes, replies, reposts, and quotes on Threads posts through the API. Meta has provided extensive documentation to help developers get started, including an open-source Threads API sample app on GitHub.

Meta has been testing the Threads API with a select group of developers, including Grabyo, Hootsuite, Social News Desk, Sprinklr, Sprout Social, and Techmeme. These early integrations have allowed platforms like Techmeme to automate posting to Threads and enabled Sprout and Hootsuite customers to incorporate Threads posts into their social media management tools.

The community now eagerly awaits to see if developers can build standalone third-party Threads apps using the new API, separate from social media management platforms. The existing fediverse beta might assist in this endeavor, allowing Threads users to access posts via Mastodon clients and share content to Mastodon servers. However, the current fediverse beta integration lacks features like viewing replies. It follows from the fediverse, indicating it still has room for development before becoming a comprehensive alternative for third-party Threads apps.