Threads by Instagram – live: Meta’s new Twitter rival app gets 10 million sign-ups in first hours of launch

Threads arrives at a particularly difficult time for Twitter

Meta to offer a Twitter alternative with Threads

Meta’s new Twitter rival Threads has racked up over five million signups within the first four hours of its launch, the tech giant’s chief Mark Zuckerberg said.

Threads arrives at a particularly difficult time for Elon Musk’s Twitter. The site has faced a range of technical issues in recent days, which it has blamed on AI services scraping its site.

“Threads, an Instagram app” is already listed on the App Store. It aims to take on the app with a range of features that are similar to those offered by Twitter, according to its App Store listing.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it reads. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

It is the latest in a long line of apps to try and take over from the increasingly troubled Twitter in offering text-based updates.

Key Points

• Threads might arrive at the worst possible time for Elon Musk
• Threads’ simplicity might be its USP
• UFC and others have already posted on the site

[6 July 2023 16:35 · Andrew Griffin]

You can’t leave Threads without leaving Instagram

Part of Threads’ rules is causing some concern: you can’t leave it without also leaving Instagram. That’s one of a couple of complaints that have sprung up in the first few hours of Threads going live.

Full story here.

[6 July 2023 16:34 · Andrew Griffin]

Meta says it has 30 million sign-ups

Meta says that Threads has received 30 million signups in its first 12 hours. That includes some of the world’s biggest celebrities: it points to Kris and Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Ashley Graham, Paris Hilton, and Oprah.

(The inclusion of the Jenner-Kardashian clan is interesting; Kylie and Kim were among the first big signatories to a “Make Instagram Instagram Again” petition, which criticised the app’s move towards video and algorithmically chosen content.)

[6 July 2023 15:19 · Andrew Griffin]

No ads until Threads grows, says Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg has announced – on Threads – that the app will not be getting ads until it grows a lot more.

“Our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point,” he wrote on a reply on the site.

[6 July 2023 11:00 · Vishwam Sankaran]

Threads' features and upcoming updates

Meta has envisioned Threads to be an app that would “take what Instagram does best and expand that to text.”

It enables users to log in using their Instagram account and make posts of up to 500 characters, including links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.

“Your Instagram username and verification will carry over, with the option to customize your profile specifically for Threads,” Meta noted in a blog post.

Users under 16 – or under 18 in some countries – will be defaulted into a private profile when they join the new app.

The app also has screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions – features already available on Instagram.

Users also can share their Threads post to their Instagram story.

Meta said Instagram’s Community Guidelines on content and interactions will be enforced in the app.

“Like on Instagram, you can add hidden words to filter out replies to your threads that contain specific words,” the tech giant noted.

Meta is reportedly also working to make Threads interoperable with other apps that support the ActivityPub protocol like the decentralised Mastodon social network.

This could help people using compatible apps to follow and interact with Threads users without having a Threads account, the company said.

[6 July 2023 10:00 · Vishwam Sankaran]

Mark Zuckerberg posts first tweet in 11 years

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg posted his first tweet in 11 years, sharing a meme that appears to troll Twitter.

The popular meme of two Spider-Men pointing at each other was shared without any caption or context.

Zuckerberg’s meme comes after Meta rolled out Twitter rival app Threads, which is touted as an “open and friendly public space for conversation”.

“Our vision is to take the best parts of Instagram and create a new experience for text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind. I think the world needs this kind of friendly community, and I’m grateful to all of you who are part of Threads from day one. Threads is available in the app store now,” the Meta chief said.

[6 July 2023 09:00 · Vishwam Sankaran]

Users express frustration over Threads's deactivation rules

Many early users of Meta’s Threads are voicing their frustration over the new app’s rules for deactivating profiles.

Users are expressing displeasure with a prompt on the app which says that to delete their Threads profile they would need to completely delete their Instagram accounts.

“To delete your Threads profile and data, you’ll need to delete your Instagram account,” the prompt reads.

[6 July 2023 08:24 · Andrew Griffin]

Musk says he’d rather be unhappy on Twitter than using Threads

Elon Musk has been trying a number of ways of doing down Threads, and attempting to head off any threat to his own Twitter. Earlier this week, for instance, he was talking about the app’s privacy policy. He has also looked to make fun of Threads’ familiar design, which borrows heavily from Twitter.

But he’s also said that he would rather be unhappy on Twitter than “indulge” in Instagram. The future of Threads and Twitter might depend a lot on whether other people prefer to be “attacked by strangers”.

[6 July 2023 08:20 · Andrew Griffin]

What it’s like to use Threads

Instagram’s new app is still getting going. But here’s some first impressions on what it’s like to use – and some speculation on whether it will take over from Twitter.

You can read the full thing here.

[6 July 2023 08:19 · Andrew Griffin]

Threads

Threads has now passed over 10 million users, says Mark Zuckerberg, and it’s still only been live for eight hours. (He’s been giving live updates throughout the launch, and is no doubt delighted by what are undeniably very high numbers for a new app.)

Full story here.

[6 July 2023 08:00 · Vishwam Sankaran]

What Threads' 'decentralisation' ambitions mean

Threads is the first app by Meta aiming for decentralisation – an approach that makes it particularly stand out from Twitter.

While this feature isn’t ready yet on the new platform, Meta envisions users to be able to plug their Threads posts into other social media platforms.

“Our vision is that people using compatible apps will be able to follow and interact with people on Threads without having a Threads account, and vice versa, ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks,” the tech giant noted in a blog post.

This makes Threads’ approach and goals very different from that of Twitter, which has been restricting its API access to third-party developers in recent times.

With such open social networking protocols, Threads hopes it would open up the platform for developers to build new types of features and user experiences that can easily plug into other open social networks, helping accelerate the pace of innovation and experimentation.

This could lead to each compatible version of the app to set its own community standards and content moderation policies, enabling more freedom for people to choose the spaces that align with their values.

“We believe this decentralised approach, similar to the protocols governing email and the web itself, will play an important role in the future of online platforms,” the company explained.