Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company that owns the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram as well as the messaging app Whatsapp, is challenging Twitter, the micro blogging platform owned by Elon Musk, with a similar new app called Threads.
Directly linked to Instagram, Meta’s popular photo-sharing platform with more than 2 billion users, the new Threads app is available for download in more than 100 countries.
The launch of the app, dubbed the ‘Twitter killer’ by some users, represents a direct threat to Musk’s platform, claims the Financial Times. In just a few hours – according to Mark Zuckerberg – Threads has already reached ten million subscribers.
According to industry specialists and analysts consulted by the Wall Street Journal, the new social media is a formidable competitor to Twitter.
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Who has already tried to challenge Twitter’s dominance
Twitter’s dominance in the social media space has already been challenged. With attempts such as Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky and Donald Trump’s Truth Social failing to take off.
But Meta has a history of making copycat products successful, claims financial newsletter Finimize.
As the Financial Times recalls, Meta is known for its cloning activities offered by rival platforms in its quest for growth. Most notably when it created ‘Instagram Stories’. Namely, a copy of the fading vertical video clips first popularised by smaller competitor Snap.
“If Threads is an equally successful imitation, it might just be a turning point,” Finimize points out.
What is the real battlefield between Threads and Twitter
According to Finimize, there is only one thing that keeps people on Twitter and that is the people who follow. Yes, Meta has some strengths, such as its super-powerful infrastructure and existing suite of apps. But, to really face a challenge, it needs star power and Instagram’s horde of celebrities and influencers could be the key.
To quickly win over users, Meta associated Threads with its social network Instagram (almost 2.5 billion monthly active users) playing on complementarity.
Threads thus presents itself as ‘an Instagram app’. “Unlike the multiple Twitter clones that have emerged in recent months to try to take advantage of the controversy provoked by Elon Musk, Meta’s initiative immediately stands out as a serious threat.
Musk’s reaction
‘Let’s do it. Welcome to Threads,’ wrote Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in his first post on the fledgling platform. And the gauntlet to Twitter owner, billionaire Elon Musk, is officially thrown down.
Zuckerberg described Threads as a “healthier” replacement for Twitter. “The goal is to keep it friendly as it expands. I think it’s possible and will ultimately be the key to its success,” Zuckerberg wrote. “This is one of the reasons why Twitter has never been as successful as I think it should have been. And we want to do it differently.”
“It’s infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than to indulge in the false happiness of hiding the pain of Instagram,” Elon Musk chirped back this morning.
Not to mention that in response to the launch of Threads, the owner of Twitter has in recent days publicly challenged Zuckerberg to a wrestling match. Which according to the billionaire could have the Colosseum in Rome as its setting.
Zuckerberg replied that he would fight his billionaire rival in the ring. But for the moment, the competition between the two giants will ‘only’ be between apps. And Meta’s new social network is already off to a flying start.
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