Meta Platforms’ competing application, Threads, achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing 100 million sign-ups within just five days of its launch, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement on Monday. This rapid growth has made Threads the fastest-growing online platform to reach this landmark, overtaking ChatGPT.
Since its debut on Wednesday, Threads has witnessed unprecedented user engagement, drawing in a plethora of celebrities, politicians, and other influential figures. Analysts view this surge in interest as a significant challenge to Twitter, the microblogging service owned by Elon Musk.
In a post on Threads, Zuckerberg reported that most of the sign-ups came from organic traffic, noting, “We haven’t even turned on many promotions yet.” He emphasized that the app’s swift journey to 100 million users far outpaced ChatGPT, which held the previous record for the fastest-growing consumer application, achieving the milestone approximately two months post-launch according to a UBS analysis.
However, Threads still faces the task of catching up with Twitter, which claimed nearly 240 million monetizable daily active users in July last year, prior to Musk’s acquisition.
In response to the emergence of Threads, Twitter has indicated potential legal action against Meta, accusing the tech giant of leveraging its trade secrets and proprietary information in the development of the new platform. Legal experts suggest that proving such claims could prove challenging.
Many features of Threads closely resemble those of Twitter, while various other social media platforms have also emerged in recent months amidst user frustration with Musk’s leadership at Twitter. Threads permits posts of up to 500 characters and allows the sharing of links, photos, and videos lasting up to five minutes.
Notably, Threads currently lacks a direct messaging feature and does not offer a desktop version—capabilities that many users, especially business organizations, consider essential. Additionally, the absence of hashtags and keyword search functionalities limits the platform’s attractiveness to advertisers and hampers its utility for real-time event tracking, a hallmark of Twitter usage.
Nonetheless, analysts believe that the difficulties plaguing Twitter, including recent restrictions on the number of tweets visible to users, could create an opportunity for Threads to capture a segment of both users and advertisers.
As of now, Threads does not display advertisements, and Zuckerberg indicated that monetization strategies would be explored only after establishing a clear pathway to reach one billion users.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, clarified last week that Meta does not intend to replace Twitter. Instead, Threads is designed to concentrate on lighter topics, such as sports, music, fashion, and design. He acknowledged that politics and serious news would inevitably make their appearance on Threads, presenting a challenge for an app striving to position itself as a more “friendly” environment for public discussion online.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
