As Twitter faces a significant new challenge from Instagram offshoot Threads, CEO Linda Yaccarino is defending her turf.
As was her wont throughout her tenure heading up advertising sales for NBCUniversal, Yaccarino clapped back after Threads received generally positive response to its Wednesday launch.
“We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated,” Yaccarino tweeted, without naming any specific imitators. Unlike her occasionally sharp-elbowed digs delivered on the stage of Radio City Music Hall, however, the exec’s message was more a bouquet-toss to users than a poke at rivals. “On Twitter, everyone’s voice matters,” she wrote. “Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others — on Twitter YOU can be real. YOU built the Twitter community. And that’s irreplaceable.”
Repeating a term often used by Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last fall for $44 billion, she told users the platform “is your public square.”
Threads went live on Wednesday evening. The app was built “for sharing text updates and joining public conversations,” according to the blog post timed to the launch. Because of the already-massive scale of Instagram and Meta’s other social networks, Threads rapidly gained millions of users in its initial hours of availability. Users can log in using their existing Instagram account. The company said posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes in length.
Reviews have been mixed-to-positive, with some noting certain core functionality from Twitter that is not yet a feature on Threads. A prevailing theme in coverage and user reaction has been the sense that Threads is a throwback to a more organic stage of social media. Twitter’s current incarnation has been criticized by advertisers and users for its instability, alterations to its feed, user verification plan and other issues. Just recently, Musk had to play defense yet again after imposing a deeply unpopular limit on the number of tweets users without paid verification could see.
Here is Yaccarino’s tweet:
