Meta Threads reaches 100 million users in less than a week

Meta’s Twitter competitor is off to a great start. Within just four days of the app going live on Wednesday evening, Threads already has more than 100 million users according to Quiver Quantitative’s Threads tracker. It helps that Thread is Instagram’s sister app and it’s easy to sign up for the image-sharing platform’s billion-plus users — unless they live in the European Union, where it’s not yet available.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has provided several updates on Threads’ user numbers. The app had 10 million users in its first seven hours and by Thursday morning had more than 30 million users. About 24 hours later, the figure had more than doubled.

It’s very early days for Threads, as the app is missing basic features that many users consider essential. It currently has minimal accessibility options, with no way to add alt text to an image for those using screen readers. Search is limited to usernames, there’s no hashtag support and you can’t post to threads from across the web.

Perhaps most frustrating for people who use Twitter is that Threads doesn’t yet have a chronological feed of posts. The algorithmic feed is filled with brands, influencers and celebrities, making it difficult for users to keep track of what friends and family are posting. A chronological feed is on the way, but Twitter may still be many people’s app of choice for the latest news.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote, “Politics and hard news will inevitably appear on threads — they also are on Instagram to some degree — but we’re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals.” Threads will not replace Twitter.

Mosseri said, “Politics and hard news are important, I don’t want to imply otherwise.” “But my view is, from a platform perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they may drive is not worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest), or the integrity risks that come with them. There are more than enough amazing communities – sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc. – to create a vibrant platform without the need to delve into politics or hard news.

Quiver Quantitative’s threads tracker uses data taken from Instagram users’ profiles, according to Christopher Kardatzke, the co-founder who created the tool. “By looking at the profiles of people who have joined the platform, I can see where they were in the queue and get a general idea of ​​how many users have signed up,” he said. He said the estimates appear to be in line with Zuckerberg’s Threads posts about the user milestone.