Threads has received 100m sign-ups, which is the fastest ever for an app. Rubbing salt to Elon Musk’s wounds is Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Prince, who has put into the public domain a graph showing what he says is Twitter’s falling DNS ranking from January to the present.
The success of Threads has also brought joy to Meta Platforms. Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been seen as a shifty leader for years as he tried to navigate questions around privacy-related issues. That chapter seems to have been forgotten for the time being. To offer a perspective of Zuckerberg’s success, ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months, TikTok reached 100 million users in nine months and Instagram reached 100 million users in two and a half years.
Also, the launch of Threads contrasts greatly with other Twitter competitors such as BlueSky and Mastodon. Those require users to choose what servers they want their accounts to be based on while Threads enjoys a link with Instagram. If you have an Instagram account, you can sign up for Threads. Meta’s 39-year-old chief executive’s plan is simple — offer “an open and friendly public space” vis-a-vis all the trolling on Twitter.
Chris Messina, who is credited with inventing the hashtag and a former Twitter power user, doesn’t have the kindest of words for Elon Musk. “Twitter is definitely not anyone’s PUBLIC square. Not anymore. It’s Elon Musk’s private playground where he’s about to charge everyone, not just the landed gentry, for entry and access,” Messina wrote on Threads.
Zuckerberg has had a tough few years, facing mountains like the Cambridge Analytica scandal to being criticised for over-investing in virtual reality for the metaverse. Last year, he said: “It’s almost like every day you wake up and you’re, like, punched in the stomach.”
As Zuckerberg gets his magic touch back, Musk can still buckle up. His Twitter has a few features that Threads doesn’t… at least, not yet.
1. Absence of hashtags: Hashtags are everywhere but Threads doesn’t have it though Instagram and Facebook thrive on it.
2. No web app: Twitter can be accessed on a web browser.
3. You can’t edit posts: Twitter allows users to edit posts via its Twitter Blue package; on Threads there is no such option.
4. Absence of a chronological feed: The algorithm is different and you get random posts on Threads but there might be more options in the future.
5. Embedding Threads: It’s not possible but you can do so with a tweet. It’s helpful for bloggers.
6. There’s no way to DM: On Twitter you can send a direct message to a user but not on Threads and it will probably not arrive anytime soon because Meta already has something called Messenger and on Instagram, you can send DMs.
7. No ads on Threads: Of course, users love it and Threads hasn’t announced plans to add advertisements. But on Twitter there is a fair bit of ads.
8. Fewer celebrities and public figures: To get access to comments from public figures, look to Twitter.