In the first seven hours after its launch, Meta’s new Threads app has attracted over ten million users, according to Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO.
The Quest Times reports that Zuckerberg launched the new text-based social media app Threads to rival Twitter in light of new restrictions placed on Tweet views by Elon Musk earlier in the week.
According to reports, Threads could appeal to Twitter users who are unhappy with recent changes to the platform.
Similar to Twitter, Threads allows users to make posts of up to 500 characters and offers many similar features.
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Zuckerberg emphasized the importance of maintaining a friendly environment for the success of the platform.
When asked if Threads would be bigger than Twitter, Zuckerberg stated that while it would take time, but he believes there should be a public conversation app with over one billion users. He criticized Twitter for not accomplishing this and expressed hope that Threads would succeed.
“It’ll take some time, but I think 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,” Zuckerberg said.
Critics of the app have raised concerns about the amount of data it may collect, including personal information related to users’ health, finances, and browsing habits, as noted in the Apple App Store.
Additionally, some users have expressed worry about the inability to delete a Threads profile without deleting the associated Instagram profile.
In response, Meta stated that currently, it is not possible to delete a Threads profile without deleting the Instagram account, but they are working on addressing this issue. In the meantime, users can deactivate their Threads profile without affecting their Instagram account. Deactivating the Threads profile means that the profile, posts, and interactions will not be visible. Meta also clarified that users can download and delete Threads data through their Instagram settings.
In a statement to the BBC, Meta said, “At this time, you can’t delete your Threads profile without deleting your Instagram account. This is something we’re working on. In the meantime, you can deactivate your Threads profile at any time.
“Deactivating your Threads profile will not deactivate your Instagram account”.