Threads is the brand-new social media app from Meta that is taking the internet by storm, but, does the new kid on the block stand a chance against its well established competitor?
Why Threads is so popular
Followers
Threads launched on the 5th July 2023, in 100 countries (excluding EU) and has already accumulated over 55 million users in just 2 days. As it's developed by Meta, parent company of Instagram, all users must have an Instagram account to sign up, this means that when you sign up for Threads, any Instagram followers you have will automatically be following you when they sign up, causing a massive boost in followers even for new accounts.
Right place, Right time
Threads' success is partially due to being released at the right place at the right time, anyone that's on Twitter right now knows that over the past year Twitter has been getting worse and worse. Just recently, Elon Musk announced that they were limiting the number of tweets paying and non-paying users could read each day. On top of this, ads have been increasing and so has spam content, Twitter has just become a platform that a lot of people don't want to be on right now, so the emergence of a similar concept with the infrastructure to be able to support millions of users was well appreciated.
What does this mean for Twitter?
If we're being honest, Threads will not single-handedly grind Twitter to a halt, so many users have spent years building a following, and they don't want to restart from day one. Additionally, as Threads is not yet available in the EU, many users simply don't even have the option to jump ship. At this point in time, it's hard to tell exactly where Threads is going and how big it could become, but I do think it has a chance at pushing Twitter off the top.
My experience with Threads
Of course, I had to try out Threads to get a true feel of what it is like. Right now, my account is only one day old, but I already have the same amount of followers as I do on Twitter (keep in mind that none of these are from Instagram accounts that follow me). Threads feels very high in engagement compared to Twitter, and it generally feels like a friendlier and more open app, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.
Conclusion
Will you be trying out Threads? Do you think that it marks the end for Twitter, or do you think it's just a phase and will fall off in popularity soon? You can find me on Threads @connorjrt
