Key points about Threads 🧵  7 July 2023

Meta responds to Elon Musk’s lawsuit threat as Threads becomes most rapidly downloaded app 📰

The article from The Independent discusses a legal threat posed by Twitter to Meta (formerly Facebook) over its new social media platform, Threads. Twitter's attorney, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, accusing Meta of "systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property." The letter alleges that Meta hired dozens of former Twitter staff who had access to Twitter's trade secrets and used this information to accelerate the development of Threads, which Twitter sees as a "copycat" platform.

However, Meta's communications director, Andy Stone, refuted these claims, stating that no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee. The article also mentions that Threads, built in partnership with Instagram, has become the most rapidly downloaded app ever since its launch, with tens of millions of signups, making it a popular Twitter alternative.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, responded to the situation by saying, "Competition is fine, cheating is not."

independent.co.uk  

Meta's Threads Emerges as First Real Threat to Twitter as It Racks Up Over 30 Million Users in 18 Hours 📈

The article from Gadgets 360 reports that Meta's new social media platform, Threads, has gained over 30 million users within 18 hours of its launch, posing a significant challenge to Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk. Threads has been dubbed the "Twitter-Killer" and was the top free app on Apple's App Store in the UK and the US on its launch day.

The launch of Threads comes amidst ongoing disputes between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg commented on the situation, praising Meta's execution and user-friendly interface.

The article also mentions that Twitter's recent decisions, including limiting the number of tweets users can read per day, have created an opportunity for competitors like Meta. Threads is built upon the Instagram platform, which has a massive user base, and it is expected that if users adopt Threads, advertisers will follow.

However, Threads currently lacks some features that Twitter offers, such as hashtags, keyword search functions, a direct messaging function, and a desktop version. Despite these limitations, Zuckerberg expressed optimism about the potential of Threads, stating, "There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."

The article concludes by noting that Threads is available in over 100 countries, but it won't be launched in the European Union yet as Meta is still figuring out how data sharing between Threads and Instagram will be regulated.

gadgets360.com