Threads App Sees Over 50 Million Users Sign Up Within a Day as Instagram's Competition With Twitter Heats Up

Threads is yet to be rolled out to users in the EU and the app has risen to the top of app stores in multiple countries — including India.

Written by David Delima | Updated: 7 July 2023 09:23 IST

Photo Credit: Reuters

Threads' meteoric rise has elicited a response from Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino

Highlights

Instagram's 'Twitter Killer' Threads platform was launched on Thursday
The app has already amassed 50 million sign-ups
Threads is currently available on iOS and Android

Threads, the new "Twitter Killer" app from Meta that was launched on Thursday, now has 50 million users — just over 24 hours since the app was rolled out. The text-based microblogging service is closely tied to Meta's popular photo and video sharing service, Instagram. While the brisk rise of Threads is impressive, it is worth noting that Meta is using its user base of over 2.35 billion active users on Instagram to get users to sign up for Threads. Meanwhile, rival Twitter has already begun to feel the heat, with the recently appointed CEO issuing a statement, while the service has reportedly threatened to sue Meta.

On Friday, The Verge's Alex Heath stated in a Threads post that the app had surpassed 48 million user registrations, citing internal data from Meta. Another Threads user, Joe Scannell (Threads: @joe_scannel), posted a screenshot of a recent Threads sign-up number that showed the figure has now crossed the 50 million mark. As part of Meta's push to get users to sign up and use the service, it displays a serial number on the Instagram profile of each user — indicating when they signed up for the service.

Threads is the top app on the App Store in India and other countries including the US

It's worth noting that while Threads was launched on the App Store and Google Play store simultaneously on Thursday, the app isn't available in every country. Meta hasn't rolled out the service to users in the EU, presumably due to stringent privacy regulations in the region.

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The app has risen to the top of app stores in multiple countries — in India, the top free apps on iOS are Threads, followed by WhatsApp and Instagram. The Threads app reportedly rose to the fifth position in the App Store in China, where Meta's other apps are currently blocked — Threads is expected to meet the same fate.

As of Thursday, the Threads app had over 95 million posts and which had garnered a total of 190 million likes on the platform, The Verge reported. It appears that Elon Musk's Twitter has begun to feel the heat. The platform has reportedly threatened Meta with legal action in a letter sent by Twitter's lawyer Alex Spirt to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

On Twitter, everyone's voice matters.

Whether you're here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others -- on Twitter YOU can be real.

YOU built the Twitter community. 🙏👏 And that's irreplaceable. This…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 6, 2023

Meanwhile, Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted on Thursday after the meteoric rise of the new Threads app, stating that the Twitter community was built by users and that it was "irreplaceable". "We're often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," she added.

Threads' user base is expected to grow over the coming day, but the service currently lacks features that users are accustomed to on other platforms, such as the ability to see a chronological feed or the ability to send private messages (or DMs). Meanwhile, the company's support documents state that you cannot delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account — showing how closely the two are linked.

From the Nothing Phone 2 to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, several new smartphones are expected to make their debut in July. We discuss all of the most exciting smartphones coming this month and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Further reading: Threads, Instagram Threads, Instagram, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Social Networking, Microblogging

David Delima

Email David Delima

As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More