Threads, the newly launched social media app by Meta, has witnessed an impressive response with five million sign-ups in just four hours after its launch. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, revealed that the company aimed to attract users from Elon Musk’s platform, Twitter, by offering longer posts on Threads.
The app’s debut was moved up by 15 hours, and it became available in 100 countries through Apple and Google app stores. However, it won’t be accessible in the European Union due to regulatory concerns.
Notable brands like Billboard, HBO, NPR, and Netflix quickly set up accounts on Threads. Meta also mentioned initial celebrity supporters, including Shakira and Gordon Ramsay, and there were reports of approaching Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama.
To use Threads, users need an Instagram account and can choose to follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram if those accounts are also on Threads.
Visually resembling Twitter, Threads introduces some changes in terminology, referring to retweets as “reposts” and tweets as “threads.” Meta has a history of replicating features from rival products, as seen in the launch of Instagram’s Reels, similar to TikTok’s short-form videos in 2020.
Posts on Threads can have up to 500 characters (compared to Twitter’s 280 limit), and videos up to five minutes in length can be shared. Users have the ability to unfollow, block, restrict, or report others, and they can filter out replies containing specific words.
Mark Zuckerberg addressed challenges and expressed his vision for Threads, aiming for a “public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it.” He noted that Twitter had the opportunity but hadn’t achieved this goal.
Reactions to Threads’ debut varied from caution to enthusiasm, with many praising its user-friendliness and some suggesting that Elon Musk should be concerned. Ironically, much of the conversation surrounding Threads took place on Twitter, where the hashtag “#Threads” trended on the launch day.
