Meta’s new Twitter competitor Threads has exploded in growth in its first full day since its public debut Wednesday night, fueled by Instagram’s already massive userbase. The text-based social media platform already has 70 million sign-ups, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.
As of Thursday afternoon, The Verge reported that users had already posted more than 95 million posts and 190 million likes, reports CNBC based on internal company data it had viewed.
The booming growth is helped along by the fact that Threads is tied to an existing social network, Meta’s Instagram. Users can sign up with their existing handles on Instagram and are able to retain some of their following as others sign up for the app.
Twitter owner Elon Musk appears to have already shown some concern about Threads, as his longtime lawyer Alex Spiro wrote a letter to Meta accusing the company of “unlawful misappropriation” of trade secrets.
Still, growth alone won’t be enough to make Threads an alternative to Twitter that withstands the test of time. The app must also show that it can keep users engaged and coming back.
While Twitter is known for being heavily used by journalists, politicians and academics and is a place where news often breaks, Meta’s Threads could have a much broader audience and focus due to its tie-in to Instagram, which has different use cases as a visual-based platform. Plus, Meta has taken steps to de-emphasize political content on Facebook, a policy which, if carried over to Threads, would set it apart from Twitter.
Many advertisers who are used to working with Meta are also likely to welcome an alternative to Twitter, especially if they view it as more brand safe. The company has said Instagram’s community guidelines will also apply to Threads.
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