Threads signed up more than 100 million users in under a week, ZDNET reported, making Meta’s Twitter rival the fastest-growing app on record.
ChatGPT held the title before it. That service, though not exactly an app, reached 100 million users in two months. TikTok, the holder before that, took nine months to hit the same mark. Threads is also the first Twitter alternative to take off in a big way, at least so far.
The count leaves out the European Union. Threads is available in 100 countries but does not operate in the EU. Meta plans to launch there later, though it is unclear whether the holdup is the EU’s antitrust laws in the works or privacy concerns about the app.
Instagram users who join Threads get an identifier on their profile, plus a counter showing the total user count. ZDNET added a caution: signed-up users are not the same as active users.
An expert’s view
Mark Weinstein, a social media and privacy expert and the founder of MeWe, said many Twitter clones have appeared over the years and none reached mainstream success. “By integrating with Instagram and its billions of existing users (far more than Twitter has), Threads may be the first Twitter clone with a real chance of unseating its segment stronghold,” he said, “albeit while collecting mass data troves on its users, for sale to all targeting bidders.”
He expects Threads to earn money the way Facebook and Instagram do, through data harvesting. Apple’s App Privacy Details say the app will collect user data including locations, contacts, purchases, browsing history, search history, financial info, and health and fitness information.
