The Threads logo is prominently featured on a smartphone in California on July 5. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, is preparing to launch Threads on July 6, a potential competitor to Twitter, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In a significant development, over 10 million users have already registered for Threads, Meta’s alternative to Twitter, within just a few hours of its release, as confirmed by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. Threads poses the biggest challenge to Elon Musk’s Twitter, which has faced numerous competitors but continues to remain a dominant force in social media, despite its well-documented difficulties. The app became available on the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 23:00 GMT on Wednesday, and there are currently no advertisements present on the platform.
Zuckerberg shared the remarkable milestone on his official Threads account, stating, “10 million sign ups in seven hours.” Notable public figures like Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets such as The Washington Post and The Economist, already have active accounts on the platform. Taking a dig at Musk, with whom he shares a well-known rivalry, Zuckerberg made his first tweet in over ten years, posting a meme referencing Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man, highlighting the similarities between the two platforms. On Threads, Zuckerberg expressed his belief that a public conversation app with over one billion users should exist and criticized Twitter for not achieving this despite its potential. Twitter currently boasts over 200 million daily users.
The introduction of Threads drew excitement initially, particularly as it is a spin-off of Instagram, which already has a massive user base of more than two billion individuals. This advantage saves the new platform from the challenge of starting from scratch. It is widely believed that Zuckerberg is taking advantage of Musk’s tumultuous ownership of Twitter to launch Threads, which Meta hopes will become the preferred communication channel for celebrities, businesses, and politicians. However, Threads has faced some confusion among Filipino users who were initially excited but eventually became perplexed by the platform’s non-chronological timeline and disorganized algorithm, which seems to prioritize profiles of individuals they are not following. Some users expressed frustration with the inability to filter their feed to only show content from accounts they choose to follow. Despite this, journalist Mara Cepeda, an employee of the Singapore-based Straits Times newspaper, appreciated the opportunity to join Threads as a chance to build a fresh community that is not yet influenced by the algorithms of other social media platforms. Cepeda, who already has a large following on Twitter and TikTok, believes it is important for journalists to be present on emerging platforms to engage with their audience.
Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter has faced challenges with minimal content moderation, leading to glitches and impulsive decisions that have driven away celebrities and major advertisers. Last week, Musk announced restrictions on AI companies accessing Twitter to prevent them from using the site for data collection. Furthermore, he caused annoyance among dedicated Twitter users by declaring that access to TweetDeck, a feature that offers a fast-paced flow of tweets, would only be available to paying customers. Similarly, Meta has faced criticism, particularly in Europe, over its handling of personal data, which is utilized for targeted advertising that generates billions of dollars in profits each quarter. Globally, the Threads hashtag on Twitter has generated over a million tweets. By midday on Thursday, Threads was the top trending topic on Japan Twitter, although several users raised concerns about data privacy, speculating that Meta, as the parent company, would likely compromise their personal information.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
