Meta’s new rival Twitter app Threads gets tens of millions of signups on day one
LONDON — Tens of millions of people have been quick to sign up for Meta’s new app, Threads, as it looks to compete with Twitter — a sign that users are looking for an alternative to the social media platform that has undergone a series of unpopular changes since Elon Musk bought it. .
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, said Thursday that 30 million people had registered for the app, including 10 million in the first seven hours after its launch Wednesday in the US and more than 100 other countries, including Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Threads is being billed as a text-based version of Meta’s Instagram photo-sharing app that the company says offers “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.”
Instagram users can log in with their existing usernames and follow the same accounts in the new app, giving Threads users a ready audience and an edge over other Twitter challengers like Blue Sky and Mastodon.
“I think I’ll just see — I’ll keep Twitter for a while and if everyone moves there (to Threads) then I’ll probably move,” says Javi de Andreas, a 24-year-old researcher in London.
He added that Instagram “feels a little bit more reliable just because nothing really changes.”
There was a lot of excitement among Threads users about the opportunity to make a fresh start with a new social media app, giving Threads a “first day of school” feel.
Early adopters included celebrities such as chef Gordon Ramsay, pop star Shakira and actor Jack Black, as well as Airbnb, Guinness World Records, Netflix, Vogue magazine and other media outlets.
There were also glitches, annoyances about the lack of a chronological feed, and complaints about missing features — which raised questions about whether the initial burst of interest would lead to continued growth that could present a meaningful challenge to Twitter.
“The euphoria surrounding a new service and this initial explosion is likely to sink in,” said Paolo Pescatore, a technology analyst at PP Foresight. “But it’s clear that this alternative is here to stay and will prove to be a worthy rival given all of Twitter’s woes.”
Teething problems for Threads include Zuckerberg’s posts — or Threads as they’re called — failing to load in several countries. But his replies to other users did appear.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri acknowledged the early problems.
“The real test isn’t whether we can build a lot of hype, but whether you all find enough value in the app to keep using it over time,” Mosseri wrote in a thread.
“And it’s missing a lot of basic features: search, hashtags, a next feed” and direct messaging, he said. “We’re working on it,” but “it will take time.”
Threads has buttons to like, repost, reply to, or quote a thread, and users see the number of likes and replies a post has received. Posts are limited to 500 characters, which is more than Twitter’s 280 character limit for most users, and can contain links, photos, and videos of up to five minutes.
Some questioned whether it made sense to combine Twitter and Instagram users, two different online groups. Twitter is tailored for quick and short updates, while Instagram is best for visually creative posts.
“Some people will want to keep it separate from Instagram for a variety of very good reasons,” Pescatore said. “This is something Meta should address, which could halt progress.”
Meta’s new offering has also raised concerns about data privacy. The company has delayed the rollout in the European Union due to regulatory uncertainty.
The 27-country EU has strict data privacy rules and will begin enforcing a new set of digital rules aimed at cracking down on Big Tech companies and limiting what they can do with users’ personal information.
Threads can collect a wide variety of personal information, including health, finances, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and “sensitive information,” according to the App Store’s data privacy disclosure.
Threads is a new headache for Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year. Analysts said combining Twitter-style features with the look and feel of Instagram would boost user engagement.
Musk has made a series of changes that have drawn backlash, the latest being daily limits on the number of tweets people can view to try and prevent unauthorized people from collecting potentially valuable data.
