Frustrated with Twitter? Meta just launched Threads, which is a new social media app that looks very much like Twitter.

According to Newser (Execs Say 10M Joined Threads in First 7 Hours, written by Rob Quinn and available here), Meta just launched Threads, the new social media app from Instagram, which 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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

However, 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.

In the meantime, Twitter announced Monday that TweetDeck, a previously free online dashboard that allowed users to easily organize and monitor accounts they follow, will soon only be available to Twitter Blue subscribers. The change, which the Verge calls a “heartbreaking” one, goes into effect in 30 days. The Guardian lists a few other “drastic” changes Twitter has recently announced, including unverified accounts being limited to viewing just 1,000 tweets a day, though Musk says that’s a “temporary emergency measure” to battle data scraping.

Which multi-billionaire do you want to support? 😉 If Threads succeeds – at least partially – that means another social media platform to consider in discovery! More work – and job security – for eDiscovery professionals!

So, what do you think? What do you think of the fact that Meta just launched Threads? Will it succeed? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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