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Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram has introduced Threads, a new app designed to directly compete with Twitter, presenting a significant challenge to Elon Musk's struggling social media platform.
Threads allow users to post text and links, as well as reply to and repost messages from others. The app enables users to transfer their follower lists and account names from Instagram, which boasts over 2 billion users, including major brands, celebrities, and creators. Within its first seven hours, Threads amassed more than 10 million sign-ups, as shared by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg on his Threads account.
The Meta chief executive officer said in an earlier post on Threads, “There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion-plus people on it. Also, Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.” he added.
According to Connor Hayes, a vice president of products, Influential Instagram users have been urging the business to create a text-based application. “Creators were telling us, ‘We want an alternative to what’s out there, and we don’t want to start over and have to build out a following from zero,’” Hayes said in an interview, without mentioning Twitter specifically.
The timing of Meta's release seems opportune, considering the challenges faced by Twitter since Musk's acquisition of the platform for $44 billion. Twitter has undergone significant layoffs, relaxed content moderation policies, and encountered technical difficulties, resulting in financial strain.
Ad revenue at Twitter has declined by 50%, according to Musk, who recently appointed Linda Yaccarino, an executive from NBCUniversal, as CEO to improve relationships with brands. Twitter has also implemented restrictions on the number of tweets users can view per day, a temporary measure to combat data scrapers and bots.
While previous challengers to Twitter, like Bluesky and Mastodon, have failed to gain significant traction, Threads sets itself apart with the support of Instagram's well-established infrastructure and mature content moderation systems
Verified public figures from Instagram can maintain their blue badges on Threads, while Twitter has transitioned verification into a paid-only feature. Threads are also built on the ActivityPub social-networking protocol, enabling users to interact with a broader community beyond Instagram, aligning with the decentralized nature of Mastodon and other similar platforms.
Threads launches without advertisements, as the initial focus is to generate excitement and attract as many users as possible. The app's integration with competing products and networks is planned for the future, although no specific timeline has been provided.
— Harshita Kumar
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