United States: The CEO of Meta, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, has expressed his intention for the company’s newly-launched Threads app to compete with Twitter. Experts believe that Threads could attract Twitter users who are unhappy with recent changes made to the platform.
Threads, which is currently not available in the European Union, allows users to post messages of up to 500 characters and shares many similarities with Twitter in terms of features. According to Mr. Zuckerberg, the app garnered five million sign-ups within its first four hours. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining a friendly environment on the platform, as he believes it will be key to its success.
In response, Twitter CEO Mr. Elon Musk stated that he believes it is better to face criticism from strangers on Twitter than to engage in the deceptive happiness portrayed on Instagram.
When asked if Threads will surpass Twitter in popularity, Mr. Zuckerberg stated that while it will take time, he envisions a public conversations app with over one billion users. He criticized Twitter for not achieving this goal and expressed hope that Threads would succeed.
Competitors have raised concerns about the app’s potential data usage. The Apple App Store suggests that Threads may collect various data linked to users’ identities, including health, financial, and browsing information.
Threads is currently available for download in over 100 countries, including the UK, but it has yet to launch in the EU due to regulatory concerns.