Have we found a Twitter killer?

10 million sign-ups in the first 7 hours of launch, 23 million signs ups since launching on Wednesday night… Have we found the Twitter killer? Potentially.

But what does Meta’s Threads mean for the everyday user, and businesses looking for the next social platform to advertise on?

The seamless integration with your Instagram account does make the app very user-friendly, and the very fact it will be pulling across a lot of the useful Instagram features puts it in good stead. Even if there are noticeable missing features, such as the lack of direct messaging, and the omission of hashtag use, it is early days.

But is this ‘another’ social platform users will need to get to grips with? Twitter is more real-time, providing up-to-date notifications and news on the go. Hence why media and agencies alike, like and use it. Is that going to be the case for Threads? Is it going to be the preferred platform? Threads doesn’t currently provide the same offer Twitter does, it’s in its infancy, but it can and will evolve, quickly. The question is, has Meta launched it too soon, and are they relying too heavily on their Instagram community to develop the app? According to Instagram’s Adam Mosseri’s opening video, Meta is keen to find out from their community what features they’d like to see. I sense a can of worms opening here.

And what does it mean for brands looking for the next and best platform to promote themselves on? Being so new, brands will undoubtedly be cautious given Threads’ infancy. That said with businesses fleeing Twitter in droves, and that fact Threads has the huge advantage of being part of the Meta family - which is very well established in terms of its advertising offering and capabilities - brands will take comfort in the knowledge there is a slick service sitting alongside it.

There are many questions at this early stage, and Threads has some way to go to get close to Twitter, but with over 10 million sign-ups in the first few hours of going live, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Meta family creates yet another market-leading, rival-crushing app