Unveiling Meta’s Threads: 70 Million Sign Up For New Experience
By William Dyer on July 8, 2023
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reports, that as of Friday morning, Threads has 70 million sign ups. Zuckerberg shared, in a post on Threads, that this is “way beyond our expectations.”
Threads is a new app, built by Meta’s Instagram team, for sharing text updates and joining public conversations. Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
Threads shot post one million users within an hour, according to Statista. The research firm compared that to the 2.5 months Instagram needed to hit the one million user mark in 2010. Further comparisons were 2 years for Twitter and 3.5 years for Netflix to join the million user club.
Some of the reasons for the app’s popularity include the fact that it’s an off-shoot of an already popular social app, Instagram, and Twitter users are seeking a better option. Ipsos discovered, in a poll conducted this week, that 40% of Americans think Twitter is “dominated by extreme and unpleasant people.” Meanwhile, only 8% think the same of Instagram. To that end, Zuckerberg is promising a more pleasant experience on Threads.
“The vision for Threads is to create an open and friendly public space for conversation. We hope to take what Instagram does best a create a new experience around text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Threads post this week
More than half (58%) of Twitter account holders say they’re likely to try Threads in the next few weeks. That shows a greater propensity to be open-minded to trying Threads soon compared to the 34% of Americans in general who say they’ll try it soon.
Gone For Good?
In what has to be distressing news for Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, and Elon Musk, nearly half of all Twitter users say they are likely to migrate their activity to Threads. Whether a full 46% follow-though on this promise remains to be seen, according to Ipsos.
Twitter’s Musk is not impressed.
“Threads is just Instagram minus pics, which makes no sense, given that thirst pics are the main reason people use the app.”
Furthermore, Musk is playing up Twitter’s lighter hand on censorship. “With the exception of this platform [Twitter], large social media companies gladly engage in heavy censorship,” Musk tweeted on Friday.
Additionally, the Tesla CEO warned “Imagine if all social media were under Zuck’s thumb” in a separate tweet.
Semafor reported that Twitter is threatening legal action against Meta over Threads, accusing the social media giant of poaching former employees to create a “copycat” application.
You will find more infographics at Statista
