Meta’s new social media platform, Threads, has reached a staggering milestone by surpassing 100 million sign-ups in just 5 days. This achievement has made Threads the fastest platform to achieve such an impressive number of users, beating out ChatGPT, which held the previous record. The launch of Threads has caused quite a stir in the social media world, with even celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian joining the platform. Many see Threads as the first significant competition for Elon Musk’s microblogging app, Twitter.
However, Twitter has responded to this new competitor by threatening to sue Meta. The social media giant alleges that Meta has used its trade secrets and other confidential information in developing Threads. Legal experts have noted that proving such claims could be challenging. Threads does bear some resemblance to Twitter, as do several other social media sites that have emerged recently. Threads allows users to create posts of up to 500 characters, including links, photos, and videos of up to 5 minutes in length.
The rapid growth of Threads, reaching 100 million users in just 5 days, outpaced ChatGPT’s accomplishment of reaching the same milestone in 2 months back in January. This feat had made ChatGPT the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a study by UBS. However, despite its impressive start, Threads still has a long way to go to catch up to Twitter, which boasted nearly 240 million monetizable daily active users as of July last year.
One disadvantage of Threads is its lack of a direct messaging function and a desktop version, which some users, particularly business organizations, rely on. However, analysts have suggested that the recent turmoil at Twitter, including the imposition of limits on the number of tweets users can see, could work in Threads’ favor. This could lead to an increase in both users and advertisers for the new platform.
At present, there are no ads on the Threads app, and Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has stated that the company will only consider monetization once they have a clear path to 1 billion users. Despite the lack of direct messaging and desktop capacity, the rapid growth and potential challenges at Twitter make Threads an interesting platform to watch in the coming months.
In conclusion, Meta’s Threads has made an impressive entrance into the social media landscape by exceeding 100 million sign-ups within just 5 days. This achievement has positioned Threads as the fastest-growing platform to reach this milestone, surpassing ChatGPT’s previous record. While Threads still has some catching up to do to rival Twitter’s user base, it has the potential to attract both users and advertisers, especially considering recent limitations imposed by Twitter. With no current ads on the platform, Meta will focus on reaching 1 billion users before considering monetization.
