Just three months after confirming its plans for the app, Facebook parent company Meta officially launched its Twitter rival, Threads, on Wednesday.
Threads has already made a strong start: according to the company, the app received 30 million sign-ups by Thursday morning, including a large number of prominent brands, celebrities, journalists, and many other notable accounts.
With early adopters eager to test out the app and a rush of activity as people typed their initial postings, the scene on Wednesday night resembled that of the first day of class. Some people questioned whether the app may become a “Twitter killer.” By Thursday morning, Threads was both the most popular trending subject on Twitter and the top free app in the Apple App Store.
Since Elon Musk seized control of the site in October 2022 and has been running it with a “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” mentality, threads could pose a severe danger to Twitter. However, Twitter’s security has deteriorated recently as a result of users complaining about how little content they can access each day. Threads may help Meta grow its empire of well-liked apps and offer a brand-new advertising platform.
Here is a summary of all we now know about Meta Threads:
What is Threads ?
The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta, has a new app called Threads. It resembles Twitter in appearance and has a stream of mostly text-based messages, though users can also upload photographs and videos and engage in live chats.
Meta stated that there will be a limit of 500 characters for messages posted on Threads. Similar to Twitter, users can reply to other people’s threads, post again, and give citations. However, the app also blends Instagram’s existing aesthetics and navigation system, and it allows users to directly share posts on Instagram Stories from Threads.
How do you enrol? (And could you go?)
Users can alter their bio to make it specific to Threads after signing up through their Instagram accounts, keeping their login, password, and account name the same. The list of accounts that users follow can also be imported directly from Instagram, making it incredibly simple for users to start using the programme.
But leaving Threads is not nearly as simple. However, the firm states in its privacy policy that “your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.” Users can temporarily deactivate their accounts via the app’s settings section. According to the Apple App Store, several users have expressed worry over the volume of data that the Threads, like Instagram, can gather on users, including location, contacts, search history, browser history, contact information, and more.
Where is Threads available?
Threads is available in 100 countries and more than 30 languages via Apple’s iOS and Android, according to the company.
The “Twitter killer” Threads: Can it happen?
The newest platform to be released in recent months, Threads, aims to become a well-known software for in-context public dialogues, similar to Twitter. Its success, however, is yet uncertain.
Many Twitter users have said they want an alternative since Elon Musk took over the company’s leadership at the end of last year. Some well-known Twitter users have left the service as a result of technical difficulties and policy changes.
The scale of Meta’s current user base is at least one important advantage it has over Twitter. Meta intends to at least partially snare some of the 2 billion active Instagram users globally with its new app. This is in contrast to the roughly 250 million active users of Twitter.
It will take some time, but I believe there should be an app for public dialogues with more than a billion people, wrote Mark Zuckerberg in a Threads post. “Twitter had the chance to do this, but they didn’t seize it,” he continued. I believe we will.
On Wednesday, October 23, 2019, Mark Zuckerberg arrived in Washington, D.C., for a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. Mark Zuckerberg is coming off as aggressive in the midst of the uproar on Twitter.
The competitor app’s introduction was acknowledged by Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, in a post on Thursday, who referred to it as “incomplete.”
She remarked, “We are frequently imitated, but the Twitter community is incomparable.”
The size and structural foundation of Meta might be used to its advantage. Threads makes it significantly simpler for users to get started on the new platform without having to start over with their network, in contrast to many other Twitter competitors in recent months that demand users to be on a waitlist or obtain invitations to sign up.
Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, said in a video released on the platform that the issue for new social media networks frequently isn’t getting users to sign up but rather keeping them interested over time.
What else does it mean for Meta?
For Meta, Threads could be a way to further engage its massive existing user base.
Although there are currently no advertisements on the platform, Threads could ultimately serve as a complement to Meta’s main advertising business. With the challenges of a declining online advertising market and changes in Apple’s app privacy practices, Meta’s advertising business could receive a boost. However, if Twitter’s history is any indication, it may not attract many advertising dollars as a supplement to Meta’s other platforms.
However, for Zuckerberg, the real attraction may lie in trying to outdo his competitor, Musk, with whom he plans to engage in a cage fight in the coming weeks. Perhaps winning the battle in the realm of social networks is even more enticing and satisfying.
