Twitter discussions

How Meta did what no other Twitter competitor could.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0 ">For many users, Twitter had become like a bad boyfriend.

Under Elon Musk, the platform could be unreliable and unfiltered. Some users have called it poisonous. They encouraged their followers to leave the platform to protest Musk's leadership, including his algorithm changes and his decision to reinstate Donald Trump's account. Other tech companies, like Substack, have tried to offer frustrated Twitter users a new place to go, but none were compelling enough to be a viable alternative - until now.

This week Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, launched Threads, its Twitter competitor. It quickly became the most downloaded app of all time. Over 70 million users have joined Threads in the past few days, surpassing the audience size of other Twitter challengers.

Why? Because Meta had something other competitors didn't have: two billion existing users that the company could push to use the new product. People log into Threads using their Instagram account, rather than having to create a new username, password, and profile picture. Meta also used its existing platforms to promote Threads.

For people who liked Twitter but didn't like the changes Musk put in, or had any enough of his antics, the emergence of Threads is exciting. Despite all its downsides, Twitter has played an important role in many people's lives, helping them understand current events and stay up to date with cultural trends.

At the same time, the Threads early success highlights a recurring problem in the internet economy. A miniscule number of gargantuan corporations are increasingly controlling our attention. Twitter, if any, was too small to be considered part of this club. Meta, on the other hand, is a modern juggernaut, along with Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

"It's not just the companies that have ever existed, but they've institutionalized a deep new form of inequality" in who controls information, said Harvard privacy expert Shoshana Zuboff. "Threads is just another property in a global empire of monitoring."

In the rest of today's newsletter, we'll explain the basics of Threads, assess its likelihood of long-term success, and give you links to more coverage, in The Times and beyond.

What is it?

Threads are a lot like Twitter. offers many of the same features: a scrolling feed of posts, some with photos or videos attached, and the ability to repost other users. The feed is a mix of posts from accounts followed by users and those suggested by an algorithm.

But it's also meant to have a different vibe. Meta has pitched Threads as a less political version of Twitter, but it's unclear how the company will maintain that atmosphere. competition between Twitter and Threads. Users have photographed the faces of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, and Musk on famous fights, like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. News outlets, like The Guardian and Semafor, joined in and started publishing their stories. So far, these posts seem indistinguishable from tweets.

But users are also having fun on the platform. Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Brady have all created accounts, and many celebrities have posted welcome messages. Pitbull said, “Mr. Worldwide registration. And Martha Stewart posted a photo in a swimming pool, saying she was "ready to make a splash".

Meta's commitment to keeping Threads "positive" contrasts with Musk's plan to make Twitter an uncensored platform. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said Meta decided to create the app specifically to respond to "product changes and decisions" Musk had made on Twitter.

The deployment has intensified the rivalry between Zuckerbe...