Meta launched its highly-anticipated Twitter alternative Threads July 6, attracting 10 million sign-ups in its first seven hours. The launch of the app, which is connected to Instagram, has amped up the rivalry between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk, a rivalry that will be fought out in virtual sign-ups before it reaches the Colosseum.
Twitter -- which had around 556 million active monthly users as of January 2023, according to Statista -- recently launched a series of temporary limitations that the company said are meant to prevent data scraping from AI companies. Meta's Instagram, meanwhile, has around two billion active monthly users, and Facebook has nearly three billion, according to Statista.
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Zuckerberg, who has been active on Threads since its launch, is intent on enforcing the draw of this Twitter alternative, highlighting the key difference between the bird app and his own iteration of it.
"The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands," the CEO wrote in a thread. "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."
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But it is exactly that key difference that Musk himself has an issue with. For Musk, the less-than-friendly environment of Twitter is a preferred place to play.
"It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram," the billionaire tweeted.
And despite Zuckerberg's clearly hectic day, he even managed to locate his password, breaking an 11-year Twitter hiatus with a single famous meme.
And while some have dubbed Threads, even in these very early days, as the "Twitter killer," Activate CEO Michael Wolf doesn't see it bringing down Musk's platform.
"I don't see users going from Twitter to Threads," Wolf told CNBC.
“I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it," Zuckerberg wrote in a thread. "Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”
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