Toba Owojaiye reporting
According to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, more than 10 million users have signed up for Threads, Meta’s rival to Twitter, within a few hours of its launch. The app became available on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday. Initially, the app will be ad-free, but its release in Europe has been postponed due to concerns about data privacy.
Threads represents the most significant challenge to Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk. Despite facing competition from various potential rivals, Twitter has managed to maintain its position as one of the world’s largest social media platforms. In a post on his official Threads account, Zuckerberg shared the news of 10 million sign-ups in seven hours. Notably, several celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets like The Washington Post and The Economist, already have active accounts on the platform.
Zuckerberg took the opportunity to take a jab at Musk, with whom he shares a well-known rivalry. He jokingly suggested a cage fight between the two. In his first tweet in over a decade, Zuckerberg posted a Spiderman pointing at Spiderman meme, highlighting the similarities between Threads and Twitter. He expressed his belief that there should be a public conversations app with over one billion users, a milestone that he feels Twitter hasn’t achieved yet.
Threads is a clear spin-off of Instagram, leveraging its existing user base of over two billion people, which eliminates the challenge of starting from scratch. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri emphasized that Threads aims to create an open and friendly platform for conversations.
Twitter users have been eagerly seeking alternatives, and Musk’s actions have provided Zuckerberg with an opportunity. Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter has experienced minimal content moderation, resulting in glitches and impulsive decisions that have driven away celebrities and major advertisers. Musk’s recent decision to limit access to TweetDeck for paying customers only has also angered dedicated Twitter users.
With its promising start, Threads has the potential to reshape the social media landscape and provide users with a fresh alternative to Twitter.