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Meta’s new platform, Threads, enters the social media battle, but it has an obvious caveat: it collects and links several types of data to a user’s identity. Nonetheless, it doesn’t seem to bother people, including iOS users, who made 25% of Threads’ 40 million downloads worldwide during its launch. Apple has also started building its presence in the new social media platform, with its different accounts beginning to sprout everywhere on Threads.
Threads is now live. Many welcomed its entrance warmly, especially those seeking an alternative to Twitter after a series of changes that Elon Musk imposed on the platform. Mark Zuckerberg’s team (and so as other new apps like Spill) found this the perfect moment to lure current Twitter users out of their cage by offering them a Twitter-like environment to share their posts. The platform builds on Instagram (hence it requires an Instagram account), but unlike the app, Threads is text-focused.
However, many pointed out how alarming Threads’ data collection policy is. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Musk himself even highlighted it in a recent tweet, sharing a screenshot of the data the app will collect from users (although this is already the case for all current Instagram users). This created doubts about whether the app would amass a considerable number of downloads at launch, but surprisingly, it successfully did.
According to analysts (via The Messenger), Threads is the most downloaded app on launch day in history. In the analysis shared by Data.ai, Threads raked up to 30 million downloads on its day-one launch, making it the most downloaded non-game app in history. The number spiked to 70 million downloads in less than two days, allowing it to beat Instagram and TikTok, which took 615 days and 844 days, respectively, to reach the said number. Meanwhile, Sensor Tower shared that of the 40 million downloads of the app they analyzed worldwide, 25% were from iOS users.
It was not shared whether the new accounts were from current Instagram users or newly created ones, but it is interesting that it still managed to reach such a number, given many stressed concerns about the collection data policy of Threads ahead of its launch day. According to data platform Quiver Quantitative, the app is now approaching its 100 million mark as there are now over 99 million Threads users as of writing. Even Apple is joining the craze, as it has started creating accounts for its different products and departments on Threads. Some of the current ones you can already follow on Threads include Apple Books, Apple News, Apple Music, Beats by Dre, and Shazam. The list will likely expand in the coming days as Threads’ user base continues to grow.
This acceptance is truly overwhelming, though not surprising. To recall, Threads is directly linked to Instagram, and it requires an Instagram account to have a Threads account. That said, if the 70 million app downloads came from the current Instagram users, this is not unusual since the app had recorded at least 1.628 billion users globally in April 2023. Nonetheless, the numbers are still a great threat to Twitter, especially with big brands like Apple already entering the platform. Apple’s entrance to Threads indicates the app’s huge potential in the eyes of other companies as a new place to reach a vast audience in the future. And with Apple’s privacy-conscious costumes embracing Threads, it could mean that the app’s data-collection policy is a small issue to attract more users in the future. Yet, in the end, only time will tell whether that is true.
What do you think will be Threads’ future? Let us know in the comment section!
