Meta's Threads Quickly Hit 30 Million Users

More than 30 million people downloaded Threads, a Twitter rival built by Meta, within the first few hours of its launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday (July 6).

Meta's new social network quickly reached 30 million users, clearly threatening Twitter image 1 — Meta's Threads quickly reached 30 million users, a clear threat to Elon Musk's Twitter. Photo: Reuters

The app went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 23:00 GMT on Wednesday and will run ad-free for now, but its European launch has been delayed due to data privacy concerns.

Threads is emerging as the biggest challenge yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, as it leverages access to Instagram's billions of users and a similar interface to its rival.

Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Hugh Jackman, as well as companies like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon, have Threads accounts.

Threads' arrival comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter boss Elon Musk have been trading barbs for months, even threatening to fight each other in a real-life martial arts match in Las Vegas.

“The fight is on, and Zuckerberg has struck a blow,” said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg. Twitter responded on Thursday by threatening to sue Meta.

A number of Twitter competitors have emerged since Musk bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year, following a series of chaotic decisions that have alienated both users and advertisers. Musk's latest move involves limiting the number of tweets users can read per day.

Twitter's stumble gives way to a well-funded competitor like Meta's Threads, analysts and experts say, especially because of its reach to Instagram users and advertising power.

Twitter will have 229 million monthly active users by May 2022, according to a statement from Musk before the acquisition.

While Threads is a standalone app, users can log in with their Instagram credentials, making it an easy addition to Instagram's over 2 billion monthly active users.

Threads, which was built by the Instagram team, lacks keyword and hashtag search capabilities, meaning users can't follow real-time events like they can on Twitter. It also lacks direct messaging capabilities and lacks a desktop version.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters, CNA)

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