Another day, another brand-new app claiming to be Twitter’s replacement.
As soon as Elon Musk acquired control of Twitter last year, the hierarchy of text-based social media platforms began to appear unstable. As he continues to implement jarring and unpopular changes on the platform, the instability has only increased.
This has led to a plethora of rivals fighting for Twitter’s cherished crown, the most recent of which is Threads, which was revealed late Wednesday by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
With 30 million users in less than 24 hours, Threads already seems to have an advantage over other Twitter rivals.
But might it go all the way and put Twitter out of business? It might not be that easy.
First things first: What connects Twitter and Threads?
Threads is being marketed by Meta as a brand-new platform for real-time, open dialogue. Additionally, despite being closely related to Instagram (users must have an Instagram account to sign up), the user experience is very similar to Twitter.
Musk is allegedly “breaking things” and moving quickly, according to the former head of safety at Twitter.
The software chooses simplicity above glitzy new features in terms of utility.
However, rather than in spite of it, it’s possible that people are flocking to Threads as a result of that fact.
Okay, but what sets this apart from Twitter clones Mastodon, Hive Social, Blue Sky, etc.?
Data and scale are the two factors that provide Threads an advantage over its rivals.
Existing Instagram users who download the new app have the ability to import basic setup elements like their bio, username, profile photo, and follow list.
You want to stop using Twitter. The social networks listed here currently have new users.
Celebrities like Zac Efron, Shakira, and chef Gordan Ramsay are among the users. Threads was being used by news organizations like CBS, Vox, and Vogue as well as companies like Airbnb, Netflix, Marvel Studios, and Spotify.
Over a million tweets about “Threads” were sent out as a result of the excitement on its rival platform. Tech enthusiasts are calling the newcomer the “Twitter killer.”
How many customers does that have compared to Twitter?
Twitter doesn’t regularly provide information about its user base, especially since it was discovered in 2017 that it had been inflating the number of monthly active users for years. Around that time, the company counted 326 million active monthly users.
One thing to keep in mind is that Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta, could have easily launched Threads at that time or even earlier. In 2008, he attempted to acquire Twitter on his own, but the company refused to sell.
Musk only put a temporary cap on the number of tweets non-paying users might access each day over the weekend. Twitter also rapidly changed its decision to make it impossible to access tweets without being logged into the service.
Even after months of unrest, each new policy change prompts a flood of tweets from users who are considering abandoning the network. At the same time, Twitter’s advertising spending has plummeted, falling by almost 60% from a year ago.
NPR has reached out to Musk for comment on the debut of Threads, although he has previously called its sibling app, Instagram, “weak sauce.”
In a tweet posted on Thursday, he said, “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.”
