Meta’s new social platform, Threads, crossed 100 million sign-ups within a week of its launch, surpassing the record set by ChatGPT. Image credit: Anthony Quintano via Flickr.
Meta’s new social platform, Threads, crossed 100 million sign-ups within a week of its launch last Wednesday, making it the fastest-growing consumer app in history and surpassing the record set by ChatGPT earlier this year.
“That’s mostly organic demand, and we haven’t even turned on many promotions yet,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post on the platform.
Threads, which is billed as a conversational, discussion-based platform, allows short-form posts of up to 500 characters, and supports links, photos and videos up to five minutes in length.
The app’s design bears an obvious resemblance to Twitter, leading analysts to speculate if Threads might be the app to dethrone the social media giant.
Numerous apps mimicking Twitter’s format have cropped up in recent months in response to the site’s tumultuous string of controversies and unpopular changes occurring since being acquired by Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in October last year.
However, smaller Twitter alternatives such as Mastodon, Post and T2 have failed to see the large-scale adoption needed to become a viable competitor to the app.
Threads’ massive uptake is largely due to its connection to Instagram – existing Instagram users are encouraged to create a Threads account and follow their existing Instagram network on the new platform.
However, not everyone has been quick to welcome the newest Zuckerberg-owned app – and in its early stages, Threads lacks many features users expect from a social platform similar to Twitter.
Currently, the app lacks a direct message function, and there is no desktop version of the app, which makes it difficult for use by businesses.
Similarly, hashtags and keyword functions have not been introduced, and posts are shown in an order decided by the algorithm, with no option for posts to appear chronologically.
These features have called into question whether current Twitter users will find Threads to be a suitable replacement, as it lacks the ability for users to effectively keep up with real-time news and developments on particular topics, a key function of Twitter.
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said that Threads wasn’t intended as a replacement Twitter.
Threads, he said, would aim to be a lighter, friendlier alternative, less focused on politics and hard news and more geared to discussions on topics such as sports, music, fashion and design.
Monserri said that a focus on news and politically-charged discussion would invite “scrutiny, negativity, and integrity risk” to the platform that Meta hoped to avoid.
Last month, Australian authorities issued a legal notice to Twitter regarding the platform’s handling of online hate, following a surge of complaints following Musk’s takeover in October 2022.
“Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate,” said Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
“A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter.”
