Threads, Meta’s new platform that aims to take on Twitter, saw 5 million sign-ups within just four hours of launch.
Opinions are sharply divided on whether Threads will outperform Twitter. Some say its links to Instagram, which provides it with a ready user base, will be an advantage, especially at a time when Elon Musk and new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino try to revive the struggling business. Others, however, feel that Twitter has a news-oriented outlook that Instagram, primarily a visual platform, will find difficult to replace.
In fact, Meta just needs one-fourth of its Instagram users to join Threads to rival Twitter’s user base. Responding to a question on whether Threads can become bigger than Twitter, Zuckerberg said, “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.”
Interestingly, Zuckerberg returned to Twitter after 11 years to drop a meme after the Threads launch. The Meta CEO shared a meme, showing a man dressed as Spiderman pointing at another. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter eight months ago, users irked by the platform’s new regime have vowed to move their online presence elsewhere, though the habit has proved hard to break.
Described as Instagram’s “text-based conversation app,” Meta’s Threads will certainly spice up the rivalry between Twitter’s Musk and Meta supremo Mark Zuckerberg. Threads look a lot like a pared-back version of Twitter, with users able to like, comment on, and share posts as well as use their same profile names as on Instagram. Unlike Twitter, there are no hashtags.
A plan to make Threads interoperable with other Twitter rivals such as Mastodon is on hold for now, but not abandoned.
Bluesky was created by Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey and is very popular in Silicon Valley, leaving those in the know scrambling to secure an invite to join the app that is still in the testing phase. The upstart told CNBC it experienced record-high traffic after Musk said Twitter would temporarily limit the number of posts users can read per day.
Bluesky looks and feels like Twitter as its backers want users from the Musk-owned site to feel at home. Bluesky was actually created as a Twitter side project in 2019 as a way to think about a decentralized version of the platform where users and not the company are more in control of personal data and content moderation.
Unknown to the general public, Mastodon saw its popularity explode when Musk took over Twitter, though it is well off the pace of Twitter’s roughly 200 million monthly users. Created in 2016 by the German developer Eugen Rochko, the site is also a decentralized social network without advertising where preserving privacy is sacrosanct.
A few other start-ups are also attracting attention, especially ones that cater to a specific audience. Discord is a platform used especially by gamers that allow users to create invite-only chat rooms where participants can hold discussions on shared interests.
(With inputs from agencies)
