Threads Threatens Twitter's Domination After Up 30 Million Registrants In 18 Hours

Mark Zuckerberg already has one followers on Threads. (photo: screenshot of Instagram @zuck).

JAKARTA - Meta's threads recorded more than 30 million registrations within about 18 hours of launch. This social media immediately became the first real threat to Elon Musk's Twitter, taking advantage of its access to billions of Instagram users and a similar look to its competitors.

Known as the "Twitter killer", Threads became the top free app on Apple's App Store in the UK and the United States on Thursday 6 July. His arrival came after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Musk from Twitter mocked each other for months, even threatening to fight in mixed martial arts matches in Las Vegas.

"The dream of the game in the cage has already started, and Zuckerberg dealt a big blow. In many ways, it is what you can expect from Meta: brilliant executions and easy-to-navigate user interfaces," said Insider Intelligence lead analyst Jasmine Enberg.

Twitter responded on Thursday by threatening to sue Meta, according to the publication of Semafor, citing a letter sent to Zuckerberg by Twitter's lawyers. Twitter did not immediately comment.

Meta says no member of the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.

Many Twitter competitors emerged after Musk bought the social media platform last year, which was followed by a chaotic series of decisions and irritated users and advertisers. Musk's latest move involves limiting the number of tweets users can read every day.

Twitter's errors provide space for well-funded competitors like Meta Platforms, analysts and experts say, especially because of its access to Instagram users and its advertising power.

"The release of Threads by Meta came at the right time to give him the opportunity to overthrow Twitter," said Niklas Myhr, professor of marketing at Chapman University, referring to chaos on Twitter after the number of tweets users could see was restricted.

"Threads will have a good start as it builds on the Instagram platform with a large user base, and if users adopt Threads, advertisers will follow closely," Myhr said.

Other competitors have met limited success. Mastodon, another Twitter-like app, has 1.7 million monthly active users, according to its website, while Bluesky, backed by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has about 265,000 users.

Twitter has 229 million monthly active users in May 2022, according to a statement before purchase by Musk.

Although Threads is an independent app, users can log in using their Instagram credentials, which makes it easy to add to more than 2 billion Instagram-monthly active users.

BREAKING: I am officially suing Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram “Threads.”They will lose this battle. Trust me. pic.twitter.com/epvaXBPNTs

— Elon Musk (Parody) (@ElonMuskAOC) July 6, 2023

BREAKING: I am officially following Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Threads. They will lose this battle. Trust me. pic.twitter.com/epvaXBPNTs

The launch of Threads is clearly an initial effort to become a service because currently there are still some features that Twitter has.

"There has to be a public chat app with more than 1 billion users on board. Twitter already has the opportunity to do so but it hasn't worked. We hope it will work," Zuckerberg said of Threads, where he now has a million followers.

Threads do not have a hashtag feature and keyword search, meaning users cannot participate in events in real-times like on Twitter. It also doesn't have a direct messaging function and doesn't have a desktop version relied on by certain users, such as a business organization.

Some users, including reviews of Marques Brownlee's technology, reveal the need for feeds that consist of just the people being followed. Currently, users have little control over the main feed.

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, who Musk employed in May to strengthen advertiser confidence, said in a tweet on Thursday that "person's voice is important" in the app. "We are often imitated - but the Twitter community cannot be copied."

Currently, there are no advertisements in the Threads and Zuckerberg apps saying the new company will consider monetization after a clear path to 1 billion users.

"The existing ad relationships from Instagram and Facebook should help Threads' income," said Pinar Yildirim, professor of marketing at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. "Facebook is a more certain bet compared to Twitter and is a major player in the ad market."

Some analysts say Threads is reminiscent of Meta's success in integrating key features of platforms like Snapchat and TikTok in the case of Instagram Stories and Reels.

At least four brokerage companies are increasing their pricing target for Meta, whose shares have more than doubled this year's value. On Thursday, Meta shares fell 0.2%, after up 3% on Wednesday ahead of Threads' launch.