The updates came swiftly from Mark Zuckerberg. Threads, his Twitter copycat, hit 2 million users within two hours of its launch on Wednesday. Then 10 million within seven hours. Then 30 million the next morning. “Feels like the beginning of something special,” Zuckerberg posted. By Thursday afternoon, Elon Musk threatened to sue. By Friday, Threads hit 70 million users, according to Zuckerberg.
With a fast expanding userbase and support from its parent company, Threads appears destined to stick around for a bit. And while there’s opportunity for Meta, its emergence is not without risk. In its pursuit of cultural relevance and added revenue, Meta’s opened itself to distraction in its fight against TikTok.