According to metrics website Quiver Quantitative, as of July 9, Instagram’s Threads app had more than 100 million subscribers. The “Twitter killer” launched on July 5 and quickly attracted 30 million subscribers in its first 24 hours. It then jumped to 50 million and then 70 million in less than two days.

With this achievement, Threads has broken ChatGPT’s record. OpenAI’s chatbot reached 100 million users in two months. For comparison, TikTok reached 100 million users in nine months, Instagram in 2.5 years. However, subscriptions and active users are different metrics. In addition, it is unclear how users interact with Threads and how much time they spend on the platform.

Keeping users engaged is a real challenge, as Threads lacks many features. For example, the web interface is only readable, with no support for searching posts, direct messages, hashtags, or a Following board. Because it shares Instagram’s rules, Threads prohibits explicit content.

Still, it’s an important milestone, especially considering Twitter now has 250 million daily users. According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, Threads’ approach is different from Twitter, which focuses on news and current events. Instagram’s new app is more about positive human interactions and lighter events.

In the wake of Threads' rise, Twitter has threatened to sue Meta for stealing trade secrets. Meta, however, insists that the Threads development team does not include any former Twitter employees.

On Twitter, boss Elon Musk wrote: “Competition is okay, cheating is not.” Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg only shared that Threads’ achievements “exceeded expectations.”

(According to Searchenginejournal)