The Instagram-launched Threads app from Meta Inc, which has been dubbed a Twitter killer, has logged more than 100 million users in less than five days.
That’s according to data tracking websites on Monday, suggesting the app has broken AI tool ChatGPT’s record for fastest growing consumer app.
While ChatGPT took two months to reach the 100 million user milestone and video sharing app TikTok took nine months, Instagram itself took two and a half years to reach that milestone after launching in 2010.
Threads went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries late Wednesday (July 5) on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries, though it’s not available in Europe because parent company Meta isn’t sure how it could get through European Union data privacy laws. must navigate.
Meanwhile, experts have described Elon Musk-owned Twitter’s traffic as “tanking” in the face of the new competition.
Meta Inc’s Instagram-launched Threads app, which has been dubbed a Twitter killer, has logged over 100 million users in less than five days
Twitter owner Elon Musk (left) has been embroiled in a rivalry with Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg (right), with the two men recently calling each other out for a cage fight.
Twitter is said to have about 200 million regular users, but since Elon Musk bought the platform last year and laid off thousands of employees, it has repeatedly suffered technical glitches.
Musk, who also heads Tesla and SpaceX, has also alienated many users by introducing charges for previously free services and allowing banned right-wing accounts back on the platform.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince shared a graph on Twitter showing the steady decline in usage of the platform since January, saying the app’s traffic is “tanking.”
Several rivals have emerged, but most of them are niche platforms that don’t have the capacity to grow at the necessary scale to dethrone Twitter.
However, Threads finds it easier because it’s linked to Instagram, which has over a billion regular users.
Online data service Quiver Quantitative reported that the app passed the 100 million user mark at 07:00 GMT (0300 EST) on Monday.
Other websites that used a count of the “badges” received by Instagram users who downloaded Threads thought the target had been passed before.
Musk has threatened to sue Meta for stealing trade secrets and intellectual property, claims denied by the company, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp.
Threads calls retweets “reposts” and tweets “threads.” It allows users to post up to 500 characters of text and up to five minutes of video.
Musk has been involved in a rivalry with Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, with the two men recently calling each other out for a cage fight.
In the latest installment of their rivalry, a parody account of Musk on Twitter – which recently went viral for criticism of Threads – dubbed the Meta boss “lizard boy.”
Online data service Quiver Quantitative reported that the app passed the 100 million user mark at 07:00 GMT (0300 EST) on Monday.
Musk further escalated his war of words with Zuckerberg when he called the Meta boss “lizard boy.”
This week, the Tesla CEO’s official account responded to screenshots of Zuckerberg laughing at burger chain Wendy’s telling him to go into space to “make Musk really crazy” by saying, “Zuck is a cuck.”
Zuckerberg broke his decade-long Twitter silence on July 6 by tweeting a Spider-Man meme to mark the launch of Threads
The July 7 post read, “I spent $44 billion on this app and now Lizard Boy has decided to hit copy and paste. It’s personal now. I’ll see you in the cage, Zuck.”
In response to the tweet, Musk said, “So many people think I’m this account.”
He accompanied the tweet with an emoji on the side, sparking speculation that he is behind the proudly anti-Zuckerberg account.
He later told YouTube star Mr Beast that he is not behind the account, which has been mocking Zuckerberg in recent weeks.
In a tweet, it posted a counterfeit photo of Musk’s face on a UFC fighter’s body and added, “I have a proposal for Mr. Zuckerberg…Winner of our fight gets 24 HOURS ownership of the other person’s social media platform . . You win, you get Twitter. I win, I get Meta. Let me know. Dear, Elon “your wife drives a Tesla ‘Musk.’
Another said, “Lizard boy will be lucky if the fight goes like this. I’m on a mission to break his face.’
While the identity of the owner of the parody account has yet to be confirmed, Musk himself has tweeted similar things about Zuckerberg.
Just this week, the CEO’s official account responded to screenshots of Zuckerberg, 39, laughing at burger chain Wendy’s telling him to go into space to “make Musk really crazy” by saying, “Zuck is a cuck.”
Zuckerberg broke his decade-long Twitter silence on July 6 by tweeting a Spider-Man meme to mark the launch of Threads.