Clever Instagram connection: After a few hours, Twitter competitor Threads already has ten million users
Many Twitter users have been unhappy since Elon Musk took over the service. Competitor Threads, which is operated by the meta group, started on Thursday. After a few hours, it already has ten million users – also thanks to a clever connection.
The Facebook parent company Meta has activated threads for its Twitter competitors. “Here we go. Welcome to Threads, ”said CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his profile on the new short message service on Wednesday evening. The app was released in the app stores for iPhones and Android smartphones – and according to Zuckerberg, it was downloaded millions of times within a few hours. However, the launch in Europe has been delayed due to the pending approval from Brussels.
After a few hours, Twitter competitor Threads already has ten million users
“Ten million signups in seven hours,” Zuckerberg wrote. Four hours after the start, he had already welcomed more than five million new users. Threads is Twitter’s biggest challenger to date. A number of potential competitors have positioned themselves, especially since the takeover of the platform by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk. So far, however, none has been able to establish itself as a real alternative.
Zuckerberg himself makes no secret of the competition with Twitter and Musk. On the competing platform, where he had not previously spoken publicly for more than a decade, he posted an image on Thursday that alludes to the similarity in how Twitter and his new app work.
“It will take time, but I think there should be a public conversation app used by more than a billion people,” he wrote on Threads afterwards. “Twitter had the opportunity to do this, but didn’t make it. Hopefully we can do that.” Twitter has historically numbered over 200 million daily active users.
Thanks to a clever Instagram connection, threads can be used very easily
A big plus: Threads isn’t starting from scratch, as the app was officially launched as a fork of Instagram, another Meta subsidiary. If you already have an Instagram account, you can log into Threads directly with the appropriate access data and transfer your contacts. Instagram has over two billion users.
Meta hopes to make Threads the new favorite communication channel for celebrities, politicians, and corporations, and to capitalize on the chaos Musk has unleashed on Twitter. Stars like Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Hugh Jackman were quick to find on Threads. Important media companies such as the Washington Post and The Economist magazine also opened official accounts. Threads should run without ads for the time being.
After numerous changes, criticism of Twitter boss Musk is increasing
After the Twitter takeover last year, Musk fired most of the staff and initiated far-reaching and often erratic changes. Last weekend he caused a stir with his decision to limit the number of tweets that non-paying Twitter users can read each day. In addition, tweets are now no longer visible to Internet users who are not logged into Twitter.
Meta announced in mid-March that it was working on a Twitter-like network. “We are considering a decentralized, independent social network that will enable the exchange of written messages in real time,” the group said at the time. In contrast to most online platforms, Threads is to be designed in the future in such a way that it is interoperable with other networks.
However, there is also a lot of criticism of the meta group, especially in Europe, which could slow down the development of threads. The main focus is on the handling of personal data. Just this week, the European Court of Justice gave the Federal Cartel Office the green light to sue Meta for merging user data from its Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp services.
According to information from insider circles, the pending start of threads in Europe is related to this: Meta therefore first wants to make sure that linking threads to Instagram does not break any EU law.
Because of the rivalry, Musk and Zuckerberg are even planning an exhibition match
With the rivalry between Twitter and Threads, the stage is set for a business duel between Musk and Zuckerberg, who are increasingly appearing as rivals. In June, the two tech billionaires even agreed to an exhibition match. After initial doubts, the “New York Times” reported at the weekend that such a fight was actually being prepared – but it was still unclear whether it would actually take place. Zuckerberg, 39, trains with martial arts trainers and is visibly fitter than Musk, 52.
The Facebook group has repeatedly copied services and functions from rivals, but has had a mixed record. This worked extremely well with the Stories format invented by the photo app Snap, in which users can show their friends pictures and videos for a day. The short videos called “Reels”, with which Instagram and Facebook copy the popular Tiktok app, are also growing. On the other hand, despite several attempts, the group never succeeded in establishing a competitor to Snapchat’s self-deleting videos.
According to media reports, Zuckerberg also tried to buy Twitter more than a decade ago. But he was rejected by the founders.
sh/dpa/AFP