Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday claimed that more than 10 million users joined Threads, his Twitter rival app, within seven hours of its launch, with the Facebook founder publicly dragging Elon Musk’s platform.
The new social media app, which had been slated for release on Thursday, was made available to download in 100 countries on Wednesday evening. Zuckerberg spent his first few hours on the platform saying he wanted to make Threads a “friendly” place that eventually has more than a billion users—an opportunity, he said, which Musk has blown for Twitter.
A post on Threads from UFC fighter Mike Davis asked if users thought the app “can become bigger than Twitter!?” “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg replied. “Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”
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In another reply to billionaire Mark Cuban, who asked if Zuckerberg was sure the app was open to everyone as it’s “pretty nice right now,” the Meta boss took another swipe at Musk. “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success. That’s one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently.”
The comment apparently speaks to a strategy of attracting Twitter users disaffected by the changes Musk has made to the site since his $44 billion takeover last year involving new paywalls, daily post restrictions, and content moderation updates that have spooked former advertisers amid a surge in online hate.
Musk has fired off some shots of his own as arguably the most serious challenger to Twitter was born. “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram,” he tweeted. (Threads is connected to Instagram and allows users to retain their existing followers and username).
The Tesla mogul also replied with a crying laughing emoji suggesting that Threads had been “built entirely” using a keyboard that only has the keys needed to copy and paste, apparently joking that the new app was a mere imitation of Twitter.
After welcoming new users, Zuckerberg charted the rapid growth of Threads’ number of accounts. He claimed 2 million users were registered in the platform’s first two hours and later added that 10 million had signed up over the course of seven hours.
In a statement prior to the launch, Meta said the text-based app would allow posts that can be “up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.” “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” the statement added.
It’s not yet clear how Zuckerberg and Musk’s rivalry in cyberspace will affect their burgeoning plans for a real-world, physical fight.
