Some ten million users have registered on Facebook parent company Meta's new social network app Threads within the first seven hours of it being launched.
The app was created by Instagram, Meta's photo and video sharing app, and acts as an alternative to microblogging site Twitter, offering a "new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations", according to the company's website.
"Here we go. Welcome to Threads," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his profile on the brand-new platform on Thursday. The message received several thousand likes within minutes.
In a subsequent post, he explained that the app's vision is to "create an open and friendly public place for conversation." He added: "We hope to take what Instagram does best and create a new experience around text, ideas and discussing what's on your mind."
Although Threads is not yet available in the EU over regulatory concerns, social media consultant Matt Navarra tweeted on Thursday that the app is already the number one social networking app to be downloaded on iOS in the UK, overtaking WhatsApp, Telegram and Twitter.
Threads is already #1 social networking app on iOS in the UK
And #2 in the top free apps chart pic.twitter.com/ewrQmuDU0g — Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) July 6, 2023
The platform was immediately labelled as Twitter's biggest rival. Twitter has regularly come under fire from users and advertisers alike since billionaire Elon Musk took over the social medium last year, with the company's workforce shrinking by roughly 75% since the takeover. Meta's new alternative is expected to attract many unhappy Twitter users.
