Earlier today, Meta’s new Twitter rival has threads, reached 100 million registrations, less than a week after launch. This makes Threads the fastest growing online platform in history, dethroning ChatGPT, which took two months to reach the same number of users.
As Mark Zuckerberg commented (post in threads, of course), when he hit 70 million users on Friday last week, he explained that this was already “far beyond our expectations”. However, there is still a long way to go before the two billion user base that can be reached via Instagram.
It’s worth noting that the record-breaking growth comes despite Threads not being currently available in EU app stores due to privacy concerns. Meanwhile, even within the block, non-Apple fans can download the app with an Android package kit or APK. (UK iPhone users can download it at will.)
Some big organizations like French media Le Monde and Agence France-Presse have done so supposedly found a way to bypass geographic login challenges, as well as, um, We.
The rivalry so far: cage fights and trade secrets
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Of course, the launch of the new microblogging app by the folks who brought us Facebook didn’t come without protests from Camp Elon. Aside from the Cage Match challenge (which we all not so secretly hope is still happening), Musk has threatened to sue Threads for “stealing trade secrets.”
Meta issued a response (again posting to Threads) which said, “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing.” The timing of Threads launch couldn’t have been more opportune though as it coincided with a number of missteps by Musk, including capping the number of tweets users could see in a day.
When Twitter (for those of you who might be too young to remember, founded in 2006) went public in 2013, it had 200 million users. Musk’s acquisition came in October 2022, sparking some controversy and causing the app to lose about 32 million users.
However, the latest statistics show that Twitter still has 368 million monthly active users worldwide. Additionally, it counts 206 million monetizable daily users, with approximately 90% of Twitter’s revenue coming from advertising in 2022.
Of course, if Threads continues to grow users at this rate, it could actually become a serious contender for the text-based throne. Initially, there will be no ads on threads while the company “hones” the app. However, Zuckerberg said that Meta will consider monetizing the latest addition to its portfolio once Threads is on its way to 1 billion users.
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