Instagram Threads sets new world record

Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival, Threads, has gained 100 million users in under a week, making it the fastest-growing app ever.

According to Quiver Quantitative’s Threads Tracker, the app hit the record number on Monday morning.

According to its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, over 10 million people signed up to Threads in the first ten hours since it launched.

In a day, that number had reached 70 million, said Meta.

The previous fastest-growing app was ChatGPT, OpenAI’s viral AI chatbot. But even that took two months to reach 100 million users.

Unlike other apps, Threads had the advantage of nearly 2.35 billion monthly active Instagram users nudged towards the new app.

Early adopters of the app included celebrities with massive Instagram followings like Selena Gomez and Kim Kardashian. 

While it’s early days for Threads, the current user count isn’t likely to go down as Threads profiles can’t be deleted without deleting your entire Instagram account.

After the initial announcement, social media users touted Threads as a ‘Twitter killer’, with growing discontent on the bird app.

Elon Musk, who owns Twitter, is not a fan of the new app, calling it ‘just Instagram minus pics’. His lawyers even sued Meta for poaching former Twitter staff to build the new social media app.

On Sunday, responding to a screenshot of a Threads conversation between Mr Zuckerberg and the account of fast food joint Wendy’s, the Tesla chief said ‘Zuck is a cuck’, an insult often used to attack the masculinity of an opponent.

Twitter had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022, according to a statement made before Mr Musk bought it late last year.

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