Threads goes live with 10m sign-ups
July 6, 2023
Threads, the new social media platform from Meta, is now available to download in over 100 countries including the UK, but not yet in the EU due to regulatory concerns.
Ten million users signed up for the Threads app in its first seven hours of release, according to Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief, who revealed the stat in his first tweet in over a decade,
Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, called the new app an “initial version”, with extra features planned including the ability to interact with people on other social media apps.
Zuckerberg has pitched the app as a “friendly” rival to Twitter, which was bought by Elon Musk in October. Musk has continuously frustrated users since the buyout in his attempts to monetise the platform – with his latest move seeing a daily limit on the amount of tweets that many users can see.
Threads allows users to post up to 500 characters, as well as photos and videos up to five minutes. Despite Threads being a standalone app, users log with an Instagram account. Their Instagram username then carries over, but there is an option to customise their profile specifically for Threads. Users will also be able to choose to follow the same accounts they do on Instagram. The app allows users to be private on Instagram, but public on Threads.
Aaron Goldman, CMO at Mediaocean, commented: “Meta’s launch of Threads captures a part of the social media ecosystem that remains unserved by other platforms in the relentless pursuit of video-first, algorithmically driven feeds like TikTok. When taken in combination with Facebook and Instagram, Threads gives Meta a presence across a wide spectrum of social media to serve its monthly active user base of nearly 4 billion people.”