According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s Twitter rival Threads saw five million sign-ups in its first hour of operations. The company is trying to lure users away from Elon Musk’s troubled platform with longer posts, a few celebrity backers, and a striking resemblance to its rival.
The app is now freely available in 100 countries on the Apple and Google app stores, though it won’t be available in the EU due to regulatory concerns. The Facebook and Instagram owner accelerated the app’s release by 15 hours to 7 p.m. EDT in the US and midnight in the UK.
Within minutes of introduction, brands including Billboard, HBO, NPR, and Netflix had accounts set up. Shakira and Gordon Ramsay were among the first celebrities to support the project, according to Meta, and a recent report claims that Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama were also contacted.
How To Log-In Threads
To log in to Threads, users must have an Instagram account. If they have also downloaded the new app, they can opt to follow the same profiles they do on Instagram once they have signed up.
Retweets are referred to as “reposts” and tweets are referred to as “threads” in the program, which visually closely mimics Twitter despite some terminology changes.
Previous instances of Meta imitating competing products include the launch of Instagram’s Reels feature in 2020, which attracted attention for being reminiscent to TikTok’s short-form films.
Unlike most Twitter users who are limited to 280 characters, Threads users can make 500-character posts and upload movies up to five minutes long. Posts can also be shared as links on other sites.
Users have the option to report, block, unfollow, or block others. Additionally, users can exclude responses that contain particular words.
In response to Twitter’s weekend decision to impose tweet viewing limits, which it partially attributed to data collection by businesses developing artificial intelligence models, Meta has introduced Threads.
Later posts on Threads addressed the issues, according to Zuckerberg. “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will,” he wrote.
The reception to the launch on Wednesday ranged from concern to excitement, with many complimenting its user-friendliness and others opining that Elon Musk should be concerned.
Others noted that the quick Instagram integration of the app demonstrated how strong Meta has grown.
Ironically, most of the discussion took place on Twitter, where “Threads” was a popular hashtag on Wednesday night.
To read our blog on “Facebook plans to launch Twitter competitor app threads,” click here.
