Instagram’s Threads surpasses 100 million users

Instagram's new Threads app has achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing 100 million users in a matter of days, outpacing the growth rate of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The app, which was launched just last week, rapidly gained traction and reached 2 million users within the first two hours. The numbers continued to soar, hitting 5 million, 10 million, 30 million, and eventually reaching 70 million users. The success of Threads has exceeded the expectations of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The growth of Threads has been primarily organic, according to Zuckerberg. Instagram head Adam Mosseri also confirmed the rapid growth in a Threads post, highlighting that it took only five days to achieve the milestone. Notably, users are not just signing up; they are actively posting on the app. Within a short period, there have already been over 95 million posts and 190 million likes on Threads.

However, it is important to note that Threads is still in its early stages, and it remains to be seen if it can achieve the same cultural significance as Twitter. While Meta, the parent company of Instagram, is not specifically targeting the replacement of Twitter, Threads could become a popular conversation-based social media platform. Meta is not actively promoting politics and hard news on the platform, but it has the potential to become a go-to platform for such discussions.

Despite the impressive launch week, Mosseri acknowledges that the long-term retention of users is uncertain. The success of Threads will depend on whether users continue to engage with the app over time.

Comparing the numbers, Twitter had approximately 260 million monetizable daily active users as of November, according to owner Elon Musk. Recent reports suggest that Twitter has around 535 million monetizable monthly active users. However, external data indicates a decline in Twitter's traffic in recent months. CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince noted that Twitter's traffic is "tanking."

Threads' rapid growth on Instagram has been remarkable, but its future success and longevity are yet to be determined. The app has the potential to become a significant platform for conversations, although it is not directly aiming to replace Twitter. The competition between these platforms will continue as they strive to capture and retain users in the ever-evolving social media landscape.