We have talked a lot about Threads in this magazine. First, because it seemed like it could succeed, where Twitter was sinking. And then, because the social network seemed to be sinking while Elon Musk’s app managed to stay afloat in the mud. Now we know that Threads is doing much better than we thought.
Meta’s competitor against Elon Musk’s X has reached nearly 100 million monthly users since its launch in early July, as announced by its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, during a call with shareholders on Wednesday.
A tremendous number of users, more than we expected.
As explained by the head of Instagram at the Threads launch, Meta sees an opportunity to compete seriously with the platform formerly known as Twitter, now that Musk has shaken it up to create his vision of the super-app X.
“I’ve been thinking for a long time that there should be a public conversation app for a billion people that’s a bit more positive,” said Zuckerberg during Wednesday’s call. “I think if we stick with this for a few more years, we’ll have a good chance of achieving our vision.”
Meta launched Threads in July. Although it was quite basic at first, the company has wasted no time in adding a bunch of features, such as a web application, the ability to search for posts, and an editing feature that doesn’t require payment. The app is still not available in Europe due to Meta’s uncertainty about its ability to comply with the new regulations.
In a Threads post on Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said, “I hope we can land support for Europe, early Fediverse progress, better Instagram integrations, and trends in the coming months.”
If you’re curious to hear more about Zuckerberg discussing Threads, including its competition history with Twitter and Meta’s plan to decentralize it, check out his recent interview mentioned above.
