Meta’s Threads App has reached 90 million signups in the four days since it launched.
In sheer numbers it’s a huge success for the app, which so far is experiencing an exponential increase in demand. The site had 30 million users on Thursday, a number which has tripled less than 2 days later and can be verified by the numerical badges displayed on user acounts; those numbers are assigned in the order someone joined, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg being user #1.
But Threads, just one of the many new apps to compete directly with Twitter, has a huge advantage over other would-be Twitter killers: An existing infrastructure that can handle demand.
Currently Threads is essentially an offshoot of Instagram. Indeed, the only way to sign up at the moment is download the app and sign in with your Instagram login. Threads then exports your contacts and profile to create a Threads profile. This function also expedites finding friends and followers on Threads with a “request all” option.
But as a result it’s unclear how many of the app’s users are emigres from Twitter and how many are Instagram users simply trying out the new feature.
On Friday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri claimed that Meta is not aiming to overtake Twitter with Threads, but rather to “create a public square for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter.”
“Politics and hard news are inevitably going to show up on Threds – they have on Instagram as well to some extent,” Mosseri added. “But we’re not doing to do anything to encourage those verticals.”
The new Meta app gained 2 million users within the first two hours of its debut Wednesday, a day earlier than the advertised launch date. Signups climbed to ten million within seven hours, and 30 million the next morning. By Friday, 70 million users had signed up for Threads.
In a video posted to Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg described Threads as “an open and friendly public space for conversation.”
“It takes the best parts of the Instagram experience and creates a whole new app around text, ideas, and sharing what’s on your mind.”
Twitter threatened legal action Thursday against what it sees as a “copycat” platform, with Elon Musk tweeting “Competition is fine, cheating is not.”
