Zuckerberg says Meta’s new Twitter-like app will compete directly with Musk’s platform
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, launched its new social media site called “Threads” on Wednesday, and it quickly gained popularity with over 5 million sign-ups within a few hours of its release, as reported by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
By early afternoon, the number of sign-ups had reached 30 million.
Zuckerberg has enthusiastically acknowledged that Meta’s new app, similar to Twitter, would directly rival Elon Musk’s platform. This idea even led the tech CEOs to jokingly suggest settling their differences through a cage match.
Musk shared his response to the launch of Meta’s new platform in multiple posts on his own platform. He tweeted, “I’d rather be criticized by strangers on Twitter than pretend to be happy on Instagram.”
Zuckerberg, on the other hand, welcomed new users to Threads by posting, “Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads.”
In another post, he expressed his belief that there should be a widely-used public conversations app with over 1 billion users. He mentioned that Twitter had the opportunity to accomplish this but could not quite achieve it. He expressed hope that Meta would succeed in doing so.
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Connor Hayes, the Vice President of Products at Instagram, who is playing a significant role in the launch, confirmed that Threads was specifically designed to compete directly with Musk’s app.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Hayes stated, “Twitter has been in this space and has been leading for quite some time, but we believe there is an opportunity here, and people are seeking more options.”
Additionally, the executive from Instagram described Threads as “an app that focuses on conversations and aims to create a more constructive and optimistic environment.”
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Musk joined in on the criticisms of Threads on Twitter, responding with laughing emojis to multiple tweets.
Austen Allred, the co-founder and CEO of Bloom Institute of Technology, tweeted, “My Facebook/Instagram social circle mainly consists of people I knew in high school.”
He further commented, “‘A place where you can read all the Twitter-like thoughts of the people you follow on Instagram’ sounds like a unique and unpleasant experience.”
My Facebook/Instagram social graph is basically all the people I knew in High School.
— Austen Allred (@Austen) July 6, 2023
“A place where you can read all the Twitter-like thoughts of the people you follow on Instagram” sounds like a special hell.
Musk laughed at a meme that suggested threads were mostly copied and pasted from Instagram and Twitter.
Meta's new app was built entirely using this keyboard: pic.twitter.com/RoRe6szEO0
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 6, 2023
Threads allow people to use their Instagram login to access the platform, and it also uses some of Instagram’s infrastructure, according to the WSJ.
The app, Threads, exhibits several similarities with Twitter. Users can create posts of up to 500 characters in length and share content up to five minutes long. They can also post links, photos, and videos, which are common actions on social media platforms.
Threads also include a main feed that displays posts from the people users follow, which closely resembles Twitter’s design. Additionally, the app suggests content from other users and enables users to receive notifications for specific accounts, both of which are features found on Twitter as well.
Despite facing criticism, Meta is determined to establish its position in the social media market and has taken bold actions in the past weeks to launch Threads earlier than planned.
This urgency arose as some Twitter users voiced their dissatisfaction with Musk’s management of Twitter and certain recent modifications he made.
One such change involves imposing a limit on the number of posts users can view within a 24-hour period. This change, according to the Wall Street Journal, further expedited the launch of Threads.
According to the report, the new app was launched without any advertising as the company’s primary focus is to acquire a significant user base before prioritizing profit and revenue.
Hayes indicated that advertising could potentially be added to the platform in the future, but the current goal is to establish value for consumers and creators. He mentioned that the company has a track record of delivering relevant ad products but emphasized the need to prioritize building the user base first.
Executives have assured that there will be no restrictions on the number of posts users can view on Threads.
The app will be available in over 100 countries for users on both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store.