Mark Zuckerberg Announces 30 Million Users on Meta’s Alternative to Twitter
Meta’s new app, Threads, has witnessed a rapid influx of tens of millions of users, indicating a growing demand for an alternative to Twitter. This surge in sign-ups highlights users’ dissatisfaction with the social media platform, which has faced criticism for a series of unpopular changes following its acquisition by Elon Musk.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that 30 million people have signed up for the app, including 10 million in the first seven hours of its launch in the US and more than 100 other countries, including the UK, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Threads is billed as a text-based version of Meta’s photo-sharing app Instagram, which the company says offers “a new, distinct 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-made audience and an edge over other Twitter contenders like Bluesky and Mastodon.
“I think I’ll see – I’ll be on Twitter for a while and then if everyone moves there (Threads), I’ll probably move,” said Javi de Andreas, a 24-year-old researcher. London.
He added that Instagram “feels a little more reliable just in the sense that nothing changes.”
There was a lot of excitement among Threads users at the prospect of starting 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 distractions, annoyance at the lack of a chronological feed, and complaints about missing features — raising the question of whether the initial burst of interest would lead to sustained growth that could pose a meaningful challenge to Twitter.
“The euphoria about the new service and this first explosion is likely to die down,” said Paolo Pescatore, technology analyst at PP Foresight. “But it’s clear that this option is here to stay and will be a worthy competitor overall. Twitter’s problems.”
Threads problems include e.g. Zuckerberg’s posts — or threads, as they’re called — won’t load in several countries. But his response to other users appeared.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri acknowledged the early problems.
“The real test is not whether we can build a lot of hype, but whether you find enough value in the app to continue using it over time,” Mosseri wrote in the thread.
“And it’s missing a lot of the basics: search, hashtags, next feed” and direct messaging, he said. “We’re there,” but “it’s going to take time.”
Threads have buttons to like, repost, reply to, or quote a thread, and users can 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 threshold for most users, and can include links, photos and videos up to five minutes long.
Some questioned whether it made sense to try to merge Twitter and Instagram users, which are two separate online groups. Twitter is tailored for quick and short updates, while Instagram is best for visually creative posts.
“Some people want to keep it separate from Instagram for many and very good reasons,” Pescatore said. “This is something that Meta may need to address, which can stop it from progressing.”
Meta’s new offering has also raised data protection issues. The company has postponed its introduction in the European Union due to regulatory uncertainty.
The 27-nation EU has strict data protection rules and is set to start implementing new digital rules aimed at cracking down on Big Tech companies and limiting what they can do with users’ personal data.
Threads can collect a wide range of personal information, including health, financial, contact information, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and “sensitive information,” according to its privacy notice on the App Store.
Threads is causing a new headache for Musk, who bought Twitter last year for $44 billion. Combining Twitter-style features with Instagram’s look and feel would boost user engagement, analysts said.
Musk has made a series of changes that have sparked a backlash. The latest are daily limits on the number of tweets people can view in an attempt to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable information.
