After opening up its developer API to select companies for testing in March, Meta's Twitter/X competitor Threads is now updating its developer documentation ahead of the API's public availability scheduled for June. and has introduced a sign-up sheet for interested parties.
The new documentation details the API's current limitations, its endpoints, and more to help developers get started with threaded connectivity apps and other projects that integrate with new social networks.
For example, if you want to track analytics about posts in a thread, you can use the Insights API to get views, likes, replies, reposts, citations, and more. It also details how to publish posts and media via the API, how to get replies, and a set of troubleshooting tips.
According to the documentation, Threads accounts are limited to 250 posts and 1,000 replies published in the API within a 24-hour period. This is to combat spam and other overuse. We also provide image and video specifications for media uploaded with user posts, and note that there is a hard limit of 500 characters for text posts on Threads. This is longer than his 280 characters on old Twitter, but much less than his 25,000 characters that X offers for a fee. We now allow 100,000 characters for articles posted by subscribers or directly to the platform.
It remains to be seen whether the meta will ultimately prioritize certain types of apps over others.
So far, Threads API beta testers include social tool makers like Sprinklr, Sprout Social, Social News Desk, Hootsuite, and tech news bulletin board Techmeme.
Threads has started integrating with the broader fediverse (a network of interconnected social networking services that includes things like Mastodon), but it doesn't seem like you can enable or disable fediverse sharing through the API itself. Instead, users still need to access the settings in the Threads app itself to publish to the Fediverse.
According to Meta, the new documentation will be updated over time as it gathers feedback from developers. Additionally, anyone interested in building with the new API or providing feedback can now request access via the sign-up page. This also helps Meta track apps that are being prepared for public release in conjunction with the general availability of the API.