Meta unveils Twitter rival ‘Threads’: Over 10 million users within hours of launch

Following a successful overnight launch, Mark Zuckerberg’s new social media platform and intended Twitter rival Threads has amassed over 10 million users.

Zuckerberg’s Meta recently announced the initial version of Threads, an app built by the Instagram team for sharing with text. Meta claims it is currently working toward making Threads compatible with the “open, interoperable social networks that can shape the future of the internet”.

Pitched as a “friendly” rival to the Elon Musk-owned Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg said of his ambitions for the fledgling platform: “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion plus people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

The app has launched with a similar, if simplified, toolset to Twitter, with one distinction of note being that Threads allows for posts consisting of up to 500 characters, whereas Twitter still imposes a limit of 280. Videos posted to the platform can also be as long as five minutes, where videos on Twitter are capped to two minutes and 20 seconds.

Moreover, Threads boasts interconnectivity with Meta’s other platforms, primarily Instagram, as users are able to transfer their account and list of contacts directly between applications.

Regarding plans for further interconnectivity, a Meta spokesperson said: “Soon, we are planning to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, the open social networking protocol established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the body responsible for the open standards that power the modern web.

“This would make Threads interoperable with other apps that also support the ActivityPub protocol, such as Mastodon and WordPress. allowing new types of connections that are simply not possible on most social apps today. Other platforms including Tumblr have shared plans to support the ActivityPub protocol in the future.

“In addition to working toward making Threads compatible with the ActivityPub protocol, soon we’ll be adding a number of new features to help you continue to discover threads and creators you’re interested in, including improved recommendations in feed and a more robust search function that makes it easier to follow topics and trends in real time.”

Threads has been rolled out today in more than 100 countries for both iOS and Android. Meta’s spokesperson concluded: “We’re excited to hear your feedback as we work to build new features and introduce fun new ways to connect on the app.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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