Is 'Threads' App Going to Make It?

 

Meta is no doubt one of the strongest platforms globally and have been under consideration and have even faced some court cases in the past. 

It all started on Wednesday, when Meta officially launched its Twitter competitor, 'Threads'. Threads had a strong start as the app received 30 million sign-ups as of Thursday morning, according to the company, including a large number of brands, celebrities, journalists and many other prominent accounts. It is emerging as the potential "Twitter Killer".

What is Threads?

Threads is an app, recently launched by Meta in order to compete with the Elon's owned Twitter. It is deeply integrated with Instagram, as it copies the username from instagram and does not let you delete the Threads account until you delete the Instagram account as a business tactic to shift the Instagram audience to Threads.

Meta said messages posted to Threads will have a 500-character limit. Similar to Twitter, users can reply to, repost and quote others’ Threads posts. But the app also blends Instagram’s existing aesthetic and navigation system, and offers the ability to share posts from Threads directly to Instagram Stories.

Threads is freely available in 100 countries including the Pakistan, UK, US and Australia. Instagram has 2 billion users and account holders can transfer their follower list on to their new Threads account.

However, the Zuckerberg lieutenant overseeing the launch, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, said in an interview that the new app was aiming for cultural relevance over size.

“It would be great if it gets really, really big, but I’m actually more interested in if it becomes culturally relevant than if it gets hundreds of millions of users,” Mosseri told tech news site the Verge.

Why was there a need for Threads?

According to the Meta founder, Thread is launched to 'focus on kindness' as it bags 30 million users on the first day. Moreover, he has added that Twitter had not been able to avail the opportunity of becoming an extravagant app because of the amount of hostility it carries.

Replying on his new Threads account to MMA fighter Mike Davis, who had asked if Threads could become bigger than Twitter, Zuckerberg wrote: “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this, but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

Furthermore, according to Mark Twitter has not provided a friendly atmosphere to its users. “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success,” he wrote. “That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”

“The vision for Threads is to create an option and friendly public space for conversation,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Threads post following the launch. “We hope to take what Instagram does best and create a new experience around text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind.”

What Future Awaits 'Threads'?

Zuckerberg’s competitive move against Twitter has already resulted in Musk challenging his fellow billionaire to a cage fight, while tweeting "Competition is fine, cheating is not". 

Meta Founder Mark Zuckerberg (left) and SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right)

Both the Twitter and Meta have been criticised in the past by public. Meta was put into heat for their moderation standards, including Frances Haugen, who accused the company in 2021 of prefering the profits over the well being of users.

Twitter has been criticised since it was bought by Musk last October for reinstating previously banned accounts such as those for Donald Trump and the alleged misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.

A letter was sent to CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday accusing Meta of stealing trade secrets by employing former Twitter employees, according to CNN reports. In a letter, Alex Spiro, an outside lawyer for Twitter owner Elon Musk, claimed that Meta had committed "systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property."

On the other hand, Andy Stone, Meta spokesperson, responded to the report, writing, "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing".

Some analysts are also saying 'Threads App' could be a significant headache for Twitter — pointing to the excitement surrounding Threads' launch and impressive download numbers so far.