Meta’s Threads gains over 30m user sign-ups in 18 hours

Meta’s Threads quickly gained over 30 million sign-ups in just 18 hours after its launch, becoming the first significant competitor to Elon Musk’s Twitter. It leveraged its access to billions of Instagram users and adopted a similar appearance as its rival.

Threads, known as the “Twitter-Killer,” became the most popular free app on Apple’s App Store in both the UK and the US on Thursday.

This happened amid an ongoing feud between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Musk, which included exchanges of insults and even talk of a possible real-life mixed martial arts fight in Las Vegas.

“The cage match has started, and Zuckerberg delivered a major blow. In many ways, it’s exactly what you’d expect from Meta: Stellar execution and an easy-to-navigate user interface,” Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg stated.

In response to Meta’s recent moves, Twitter has threatened to sue the company, as reported by Semafor.

A letter from a Twitter lawyer to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, revealed the potential for legal action. Twitter did not provide an immediate comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Meta stated that none of its Threads engineering team members are former Twitter employees. With Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and subsequent controversial decisions, competitors have emerged.

Analysts believe Meta, with its strong advertising capabilities and access to Instagram users, has a favorable opportunity to capitalize on Twitter’s missteps and become a well-funded rival in the social media landscape.

Also Read

Meta’s Twitter-like App, Threads, Set To Launch This Week

Twitter has undergone various changes over the years, and its ownership has...

Niklas Myhr, a marketing professor at Chapman University, stated that “Meta’s release of Threads came at the perfect time to give it a fighting chance to unseat Twitter,” turmoil caused by limiting the number of visible tweets.

“Threads will be off to a running start as it is built upon the Instagram platform with its massive user base, and if users adopt Threads, advertisers will follow closely behind.”

Mastodon, a Twitter-like app, has approximately 1.7 million monthly active users, as stated on its website. Bluesky, supported by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has around 265,000 users.

In comparison, Twitter had 229 million monthly active users in May of the previous year, prior to Elon Musk’s acquisition.