10million join Twitter rival Threads, says Mark Zuckerberg
Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg shared that the firm’s newly launched Threads app had received 10million subscribers within the first seven hours of its launch.
Threads, the latest app to be created by Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp) was pitched as a “friendly” rival to Twitter after the platform was bought by tech billionaire Elon Musk last October. Experts say that the app can attract the attention of Twitter users who are unhappy with the platform’s recent changes.
10million users signed up within the first few hours of its official launch including celebrities and politicians like Oprah Winfrey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York. You can now also follow NME on Threads here.
Things like removing the free blue verified ticks to create a Twitter Blue subscription, the platform’s redesign to show suggested tweets by default and limiting the amount of tweets a user can see have left many Twitter users unhappy as of late.
The Threads app follows a similar format to Twitter. It allows users to post up to 500 characters and they can share any thoughts they want along with photos, links and videos.
When asked if the app has the potential to become bigger than Twitter, Zuckerberg responded: “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.”
Zuckerberg also shared that the key to the app’s success will be to keep it friendly.
But with the creation of anything, there are a handful of questions and concerns. The main concern is that a thread account will be linked to a user’s Instagram account. There is no way to separate the two just yet.
Speaking to BBC, the Meta firm shared: “At this time, you can’t delete your Threads profile without deleting your Instagram account. This is something we’re working on. In the meantime, you can deactivate your Threads profile at any time.”
Another big issue is the question of privacy and data. Competitors have criticised the amount of data the app might use. According to the Apple App Store, data that may be used can include health, financial, and browsing data linked to users’ identities.Some users have already shared their concerns about the way the app will handle disinformation on the platform.
Though the app has kicked off with a promising start, some were left unimpressed. Twitter owner Elon Musk was not impressed by the platform and recently tweeted “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.”
In other Zuckerberg-Musk news, the two look set to fight each other in a wrestling cage match.
“I’m up for a cage match if he is,” Musk tweeted, before Zuckerburg took to his Instagram Stories to screenshot the tweet and add: “Send me location.”
Confirming the legitimacy of Zuckerburg’s intentions around the fight, Meta spokesperson Iska Saric told The Verge: “The story speaks for itself,” adding that Zuckerburg was not joking about the prospect
In response to that story, Musk tweeted a potential location of the Las Vegas Octagon for the fight.
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Anagricel Duran
NME
