The announcement of Threads, Meta’s Instagram-Twitter hybrid, had been met with confusion and skepticism. Then, when it launched on Wednesday, 30 million people signed up within hours.
Threads, the latest of Meta’s copycat innovations, faces a long slog to topple Twitter as the microblogging platform of choice. It’s the latest in a line of possible Twitter replacements that have jumped into the feeding frenzy for Twitter users since Elon Musk bought the platform last year. But Threads comes with big potential in its polished tech, a built-in user base, and a better reputation for moderation that’s likely to please big-money advertisers.
The platform also arrives at a particularly weak moment for Twitter. Musk’s recent announcement that free Twitter accounts would, temporarily, only be able to view 600 tweets per day, was met with derision. Such moves will likely further hurt advertising on the platform—worsening a crisis that’s been ongoing throughout Musk’s tenure.
It’s a perfect storm: Technical troubles at Twitter converging with a slow news week have set the stage for Threads. “Suddenly, you have something that’s improbable: Meta has gotten into microblogging and people are actually digging it,” says John Wihbey, a professor in the School of Journalism and Media Innovation at Northeastern University who has worked as a contracted consultant for Twitter.
Meta’s Threads, which is closely linked to Instagram but is actually a different app, already has a major advantage over other Twitter copycats—it already has a huge potential pool of users on Instagram—and those people can choose to follow accounts they already follow on Instagram as they come onto Threads.
With the backing of Meta, it also has a team of engineers that volunteer-run networks like Mastodon can’t rival. People can also post Threads directly to their Instagram stories. And, according to a post Wednesday from Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri, Threads will eventually have support for ActivityPub, the protocol behind Mastodon, which would let people take their followers to another service if they leave Threads or if the app ever shuts down.
Threads can’t do all that Twitter can—yet. People need an Instagram account to sign up, and it’s not available in the European Union, which has strict privacy standards that the app may not meet. The feed defaults to a mix of accounts people follow and a slurry of posts selected by an algorithm, there’s no direct messaging feature, and the feed’s order is algorithmic, not chronological. Threads also doesn’t have a trending topics section and the search feature seems to only bring up accounts, not specific topics or posts, which makes it initially less appealing for following big news events. And there are also no ads—yet.
But Threads had a mostly smooth launch and largely positive reception, aside from a slight hiccup when Zuckerberg’s own Threads failed to load Thursday morning. Still, microblogging remains a risky bet. Social platforms focusing on it haven’t been consistently profitable. But Threads may boost Meta’s brand as Twitter’s reputation falters. And it’s a chance to capitalize on those advertisers who have ditched Twitter.
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