Execs Say 10M Joined Threads in First 7 Hours

Threads, the new social media app from Instagram, went live Wednesday, 15 hours earlier than scheduled, and execs say the response was massive, with 10 million people signing up in the first seven hours. In a video posted on the platform, a clearly exhausted Adam Mosseri, chief executive of Instagram, said it was "quite the first day," though much work remains to be done to keep the new users engaged, the Verge reports.

• Threads is available for download in the US and more than 100 other countries, though it is not currently available in European Union countries because of concerns about privacy regulations, reports the BBC.

• In an earlier post on the platform, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Threads had passed 2 million sign-ups in its first two hours. He later said it was 5 million in four hours, then 10 million in seven hours. When asked whether he thought it would be "bigger than Twitter," Zuckerberg said, "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it." He added: "Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."
• Unlike other Twitter rivals, Threads has a ready-made user base: Users log in with Instagram accounts and they have the option of following the same accounts on Threads that they do on Instagram.

• The app looks a lot like Twitter, with the equivalent of retweets called "reposts" and tweets called "threads," the Guardian reports. Posts are limited to 500 characters, compared to 280 at Twitter. Meta has described Threads as a "new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations."
• Despite the strong start, analysts aren't convinced that Threads will have staying power. Mike Proulx at market research company Forrester, tells the AP that Meta risks "spreading itself too thin" with the new platform. "Meta is banking on a moment in time amidst peak Twitter frustration," Proulx says. "However, this window of opportunity is already flooded with Twitter alternatives including Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill, Post.News, and Hive, which are all competing for Twitter's market share."

(More social media stories.)