Zuckerberg says Threads, Instagram's new Twitter-like app, launched with 5 million users; Elon Musk responds

Facebook parent Meta Platforms launch its new social media site "Threads" on Wednesday, and it swiftly took off with more than 5 million sign-ups within just a few hours of its launch, according to its CEO.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg celebrated the platform’s launch, which came Wednesday evening in the U.S. with a new thread on the platform, saying: "Just passed 5 million sign ups in the first four hours…" Hours earlier, Zuckerberg said the app had gained 2 million sign-ups in the first two hours from its release.

Zuckerberg has embraced the idea that Meta’s new Twitter-like app would directly compete with Elon Musk's platform and the idea even prompted the tech CEOs to say they would settle their differences in a cage match.

Musk responded to the platform’s launch in several posts on his own platform, tweeting: "It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram."

"Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads," Zuckerberg posted on the app, welcoming new users.

"It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it," he added in another post. "Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will."

Connor Hayes, Instagram’s vice president of products who is helping lead the launch, confirmed Threads was created to be a direct competitor to Musk’s app.

"This is a space Twitter has been in and led for a while, but our perspective here is that there is an opportunity and people are looking for more choices," said Hayes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Instagram executive also described Threads as "an app that’s built for conversations that feels more productive and positive."

On Twitter, Musk joined in on several users’ criticisms of Threads, posting laughing emojis to various tweets.

"My Facebook/Instagram social graph is basically all the people I knew in High School," wrote Austen Allred, the co-founder and CEO of Bloom Institute of Technology.

He added: "‘A place where you can read all the Twitter-like thoughts of the people you follow on Instagram’ sounds like a special hell."

Musk also laughed at a meme that suggested Threads was mostly copied and pasted from Instagram and Twitter.

Threads allows people to use their Instagram login to access the platform, and it also uses some of Instagram’s infrastructure, according to WSJ.

The app also shared several similarities with Twitter as it allows users to make posts that are up to 500 characters long and share that are up to five minutes long. Users can also post links, photos and videos, which are typical uses for social media apps.

Threads also features a central feed that includes posts from people they follow, nearly the exact same as Twitter’s design. The app also recommends content from other users and allows to turn on notifications for specific users, both are also features on Twitter.

Despite the criticism, Meta seeks to nudge its place in the social media market and made aggressive moves in recent weeks to launch Threads ahead of schedule.

The rush came as some Twitter users criticized Musk’s handling of Twitter and some recent changes he has implemented.

One of these changes, an imposed limit on how many posts users can see in a 24-hour period, also accelerated Threads’ launch, WSJ reported.

The new app launched without advertising as the company hopes to gain a substantial user base before giving priority to profit and revenue, per the report.

Hayes suggested the platform could add advertising to the platform at a later time but was looking to build its user base.

"We’ve shown over time that as a company we’re able to deliver ads products that are relevant to people…but we need to build the consumer and creator value first," Hayes said, WSJ reported.

Executives have said there will be no limit to how many posts users can see on Threads.

The app will be made available in more than 100 countries to users on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store.