The "Threads" app attracted more than 30 million subscribers within the first 18 hours of its launch, marking a true threat to the "Twitter" app. Threads capitalizes on its ability to reach billions of Instagram users and its similar interface to its competitor Twitter. Dubbed the "Twitter Killer," Threads topped the free apps on Apple’s App Store in the UK and the US this Thursday.
Jasmine Enberg, a senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, stated, "The fight has begun, and Zuckerberg has delivered a powerful punch. In many ways, this is exactly what can be expected from Meta: exceptional execution and a user-friendly interface." Analysts and experts noted that Twitter's struggles create an opening for a financially robust competitor like Meta, particularly given its billions of users on the Instagram platform and its advertising strength.
Chapman University marketing professor Nicholas Mer remarked, "Meta's launch of Threads comes at the perfect time to give it a chance to compete with Twitter and take it down from its pedestal," referencing the chaos that ensued at Twitter after the company limited the number of tweets that could be read per day. He added, "Threads is set to launch strongly because it is based on the Instagram platform, which has a massive user base, and if its users decide to use Threads, advertisers will quickly follow."
The Semaphore news site reported that one of Twitter's lawyers sent a message to Zuckerberg, indicating that the microblogging site threatens to sue Meta. Threads allows users to post texts and links, reply to others' messages, and re-share content. However, the app does not feature hashtags or keywords, meaning users cannot follow live events as they can on Twitter.
