Meta’s new social media platform Threads has officially launched an API (Application Programming Interface) for third-party developers. The move will allow developers to build new experiences and integrations around the rapidly growing platform.
In a blog post on Monday, Threads engineer Jesse Chen announced that the new API will enable developers to publish posts, fetch their own content, and deploy tools for managing replies including hiding, unhiding, and responding to specific comments.
The API will also provide access to analytics data like number of views, likes, replies, reposts, and quotes at the media and account level.
“The Threads API is now widely available and coming to more of you soon,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a separate post celebrating the API launch.
Threads had first announced plans for the API in a limited beta last October with select partners like Sprinklr, Hootsuite, and Techmeme. The company delivered on its promise to open up the API more broadly by this month.
Along with the API launch, Meta has also released an open-source reference app on GitHub for developers to experiment with.
The launch gives third-party developers a major new social platform to build tools and apps around, after a year of platforms like Twitter (now X) and Reddit restricting access. Threads’ integration with the decentralized fediverse also provides opportunities.
With over 150 million users, Threads represents one of the biggest new social networks opening itself up to external developers in recent years through a public API. The move could unlock a wave of new integrations and innovations around the fledgling text-based conversation app.
