Threads surpasses 100 million users
Threads crosses the coveted 100 million user milestone in less than a week.
Threads has been the most notable story in social media since it launched last week. Developed by Meta, Threads is a direct response to Twitter and the controversial changes the platform has seen under the ownership of Elon Musk. A spin-off of Instagram, Threads has quickly amassed a sizable user base in the days since it launched on iOS and Android, and has now surpassed 100 million users.
Threads crossed the 100 million user mark earlier this morning, as spotted on third-party trackers like Quiver Quantitative. Described by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as “an open and friendly space for conversation,” Meta made it incredibly easy to sign-up by letting users register with their Instagram credentials, with the option to follow the same people as on the picture-sharing platform.
Source: Getty Images
Threads takes obvious inspiration from Twitter, essentially replicating elements of the platform’s UI and features. The similarities are so close in fact, that Twitter sent a letter to Meta last week, accusing it of stealing trade secrets and threatening legal action. Elon Musk has been a vocal critic of Meta, Zuckerberg, and Threads since the app’s launch.
While Threads has quickly passed major milestones on its way to 100 million users, there are still a lot of questions surrounding the platform's long term durability. The app is still missing key features like search and a following tab, although the head of Instagram has confirmed that those are both on the way. Threads has also yet to introduce ads, as it’s not Meta’s current priority with the app.
It’ll also be interesting to see if Threads is able to maintain its momentum and remain a direct competitor to Twitter in the long run. Technical issues and policy changes at Twitter made it easy for users to jump ship, but it’s yet to be seen if folks will fully commit to Threads as their preferred conversation app.
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Shacknews
replyDonovan Erskine posted a new article, Threads surpasses 100 million users
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Threads isn’t amazing but I’ll use it for a bit just for these results:
https://i.imgur.com/gwcwA37.jpg-
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it starts that way, but then the company isn't influencing what you're seeing, and if they have even a modicum of control, then they can't promise views or click-through estimates to advertisers to persuade them to give them ad money consistently, so sooner or later it's going to get enshittified, where you work to find different tricks to recreate what you once had as you realize you were never the customer to begin with
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Oh credit for that gem goes to Cory Doctorow https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/
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That feeling happened with all of the new apps, at least with the people I followed. Remains to be seen how well it can be kept up.
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Oh, I meant the other twitter clones like like Spoutible, Post, bluesky, etc
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I don't get that feeling with Threads at all, though Bluesky gives me the same, old Twitter vibes.
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That makes sense if your crowd is there.
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Already feels like a pretty natural Twitter replacement, the content is there or on the way. They've got plenty of time to tune the algo and for the community to get less cringe. Twitter seems pretty DOA at this point to me. Musk appears to be melting down.
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Does seem like it is getting quite a bit of traction. Unfortunate that Mastadon and the greater fedi-verse couldn't get their onload messaging right. I'm crossing my fingers I will be able to follow a handful of people on threads at some point from my mstdn.social account. I won't be making a FB/META account. I've been off their platform for almost 13 years now. Lets keep it that way.
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Yeah I won’t be going to threads. ‘Sok, I managed without twitter ‘til the covid shitshow, and I’ll figure out a way to live without it.
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Meta just has too much of a head start. If they want to start a new platform, they can immediately push it via Instagram and Facebook to like a third of the population of the entire world. Unless there is a really revolutionary idea in the "share messages with people" space, which IMO is hard to imagine at this point, it's basically going to be impossible to compete if Meta decides to enter the ring.
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You are absolutely right that threads has a huge headstart. No denying it. Mastadon and the fediverse being what they are, never stood a chance and will likely only remain niche relevant. Maybe threads will actually open up to activity pub and the greater fediverse like they claim they will and I can be somewhat happy with that.
Was reading that Instagram users that haven't opted into Threads yet, have shadow account waiting for them complete with friend suggestions and the like. Makes it supper convenient and feels like something that has always been there if you are an Instagram user. -
It's not just that.
Threads was initially launched in 2019 (although in a slightly different format) and fell completely flat and was shut down. It wasn't until Elon acquired Twitter and started fucking things up that Meta saw an opportunity and decided to revisit the idea, specifically with more of a focus on being more of a direct Twitter competitor, and it was been a huge success already.
I agree that when it comes to launching a new social media platform, Meta has an insane advantage, but it's not like their existing userbase means guaranteed success. Without Elon's fuckery, Threads would have never happened.
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I have to say, with the hamfisted way companies have been trying to take on TikTok (basically shit like "Stories" and "Shorts" and so forth), when I heard Threads announced last week I expected more of the same - like Truth Social and Mastodon, it would be something that would be kinda ignored. Now they have 100M users in less than a week. They did something right, even if that answer boils down to "tack yourself onto a successful service and launch at the right time"
Also someone linked to that account "ParlerTakes" and holy shit, not only did I forget that thing existed but it's already been shut down. And remember GETTR? It's still plodding along which is disappointing to me since I was hoping for the 'GETTR Is Done" headline by now.
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Them not being in Europe is bad though. A lot of info (and disinfo) about the war in Ukraine will not be able to move from Twitter, for example, as a lot of Ukrainians are now in EU so that would cut them off. Same with any global business who wants to reach European markets. Same with any official accounts from global organizations and governments. I would imagine being cut off from EU is just a no go for them. So for now I think this is mostly a US thing.
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I saw some anecdote that ppl in Europe are well accustomed to getting around EU restrictions with this stuff, so many of them are already on Threads.
The UK's thinking that Brexit was well worth it now, I bet!
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Oh the audience and moderation is better, but the UI and ability to find new follows is not as good IMO.
Will likely improve and I’m curious to see what kind of reputation/community grows with it. Right now there’s not enough academia/science/political experts on there for my tastes and I wish there was a tool to look up your Twitter follows and see if they are on Threads. -
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To be fair, they also helped mainstream XR tech to the point that even Apple is entering the game. That said, Meta Horizons is indeed terrible.
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in a year twitter ads are gonna mypillow ads and gold buying services
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It’s already like that for me. Ads for stupid vegetable slicers and cooling pillows and I think I got one recently for a ceiling fan that screws into a regular light bulb socket. All Temu shit not even Alibaba level quality.
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Twitter traffic is tanking, as Threads signup reaches 100 million users. . "According to Similarweb, a data company that specializes in web analytics, web traffic to Twitter was down 5% for the first two full days Threads was generally available compared with the previous week. The company said Twitter’s web traffic is down 11% compared with the same days in 2022."
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/10/twitter-traffic-is-nosediving-as-metas-threads-hits-100-million-users.html-
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No idea. Saw some other article with a chart & source but can't find it again. Anyway, was just reading a NY times article that said Threads was on track to get 100 mil signups in 2 months. They were a little off, they reached it in 5 days. I guess a lot of people aren't happy with the way Musk is running Twitter. I signed up for Threads just as a middle finger to Musk, even though I hold Tesla shares & drive one, heh.
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And advertising prices or deals on Twitter will follow. A viable competitor is absolutely something Musk and his backers did not plan on or see coming. It is no longer out of the realm of possibility that Twitter could fail or declare bankruptcy given their enormous debt load. At the very least their margins are going to be squeezed and their "growth" prospects greatly diminished.
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i still can't read replies on twitter as someone who isn't signed in. like, what the heck.
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I find it weird that the only draw for these platforms for many people is the co-existence of corporations and celebrities. Mastodon has already been a more than capable replacement for Twitter as a social space but frankly without the Kardashians and Coca Cola* on there for people to fawn over/be outraged by, the majority of people haven't felt compelled to adopt it. It also highlights to me that so many people aren't actually dumping Twitter because of Elon, if that was the case the platform would have died long ago - the draw is a strong sense of fomo and the fresh leather smell of Threads.
*I have no idea whether these exist on Threads or Mastodon, they're just examples.-
I don't think you're completely right. People ARE dumping Twitter because of Elon, but only because there is a replacement that probably won't immediately disappear, because Instagram made the transfer almost completely frictionless, and because the people they want to follow are going there too.
You're absolutely correct that the reason Mastodon didn't take off the way Threads has is because of the content.....the product Twitter sold was user eyeballs to advertisers and brands, and the same goes for Facebook, Instagram, and now Threads. Brands will go where the users go, if they had stayed on Twitter the brands would still be active there too. Elon either thought he had a captive audience with no alternatives, or he was attempting to tank Twitter and doesn't really care why people leave as long as the company crashes and he can be done with this. -
while companies and celebs are on threads, the majority of my connections are actual people I knew from twitter and fb.
also, Mastodon is too hard for the average person to find people to follow. until it's as easy as threads (or twitter), it's never going to be a good place for the average user - like my mother. she uses fb. she used twitter. she is now on threads without any help (she is 76 and slow as fuck on a phone). It's great for the tech folks, it not good for the average person who uses social media only on their phone and just wants to share some info. -
Mastodon has never been a suitable replacement for twitter, nor will it likely ever be. Your experience on Mastodon is 100% tied to the quality of the server your account exists on, and in order to find you someone needs both your account name and your server. That makes it massively more complicated both to sign up, and to even explain to another person how to find you on the service.
Mastodon is a protocol, not a platform. Protocols are too complicated for normal people wrap their heads around, which is why email is either work related these days or silo'd from a massive provider like google or apple.
The thing Twitter had going for it was 1) it was a one-to-many broadcast platform, and 2) everyone eventually ended up on it. The network affect kept it relevant, but the one-to-many broadcast principle was what allowed it to become a real ecosystem and a way to spread information at lightning speeds across the globe.
Twitter has real, tangible value, and Elon is just flushing it away.-
Eh I typed up a response but shackbrowse ate it. I was acknowledging that people are less interested in personal interactions than having access to socialised versions of their favourite famous people and brands. These are not things that the other platforms have been able to claim but it's outright the most popular aspect of Threads that I've heard anecdotally and seen in articles. But ok, yeah maybe it's not the single biggest factor. Technologically I think the argument is less obvious - people claiming that Mastodon has high friction over things like the way usernames work when Threads didn't have a follow feed at launch and doesn't yet support hashtags. It will get those things (but firstly let's be honest the only reason it didn't have a follow feed was to drive up discovery and increase organic follower counts) but let's not suggest that Threads knocked it out the park day one.
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I don’t care about celebrity drama or brands, I just want to leave the alt right and literal Nazis on Twitter and still get interesting info from my author/journalist/political/scientist follows. And Mastadon was too decentralized and clunky for my tastes.
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I agree, but it feels to be as if we're conditioned to expect that the platform is only free with ads, engagement must be rewarded to encourage "quality" content creation, and that only a big tech corp can have our confidence to pull it off.
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Does threads not have a web app?
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I wanna know how much they paid for the domain: https://www.threads.net/
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december 2021 threads dot net
https://web.archive.org/web/20211224103042/https://www.threads.net/ -
i wonder if they made an offer for .com
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Don't know if they are even planning a web app. But I just realized something, I could use Threads as a r/all substitute while on mobile. Two middle birds (middle fingers to Musk & Spez) one stone.
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Is threads only available as an app?
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Yes
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Meta seems cool
Facebook turns over mother and daughter’s chat history to police resulting in abortion charges
https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/10/23299502/facebook-chat-messenger-history-nebraska-teen-abortion-case-
I mean they have to comply with the search warrant. That said, they will have to do this as long as they continue to horde data that they really have no need to save.
Fediverse servers are in the same boat though. There is no E2EE between users. Maybe servers should consider scrubbing data a week old or something?
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I think it has a good foundation and if Twitter goes belly up, it will be an easy transition. They really just need a "trending" & "For You / Following" which I know at least "following" is in development.
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doesn't seem possible at this point
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There is a workaround that I saw this morning. I didn't try it though.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-install-threads-on-windows/
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Yeah, but the Taliban prefer Twitter
https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgwg9n/taliban-endorses-twitter-over-threads -
Sounds very corporate https://jogblog.substack.com/p/facebooks-threads-is-so-depressing
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