Meta's Twitter rival Threads is here. Can it survive the company's woes?

 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg's new platform has undeniable advantage over alternatives

Meta unveiled a new app called Threads that appears to mimic Twitter — a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. (Richard Drew/The Associated Press)

Meta launched its microblogging app Threads on Thursday, the latest among several platforms that have been designed to rival Twitter as users jump ship from the beleaguered social media site.

The company behind Instagram and Facebook pitched Threads as an app that will do for text and dialogue what Instagram did for photos and video. 

"There should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," Meta CEO Zuckerberg said on Threads, where he now has a million followers.

Thirty million people signed up for the app within 18 hours of its launch, according to the company. That rush is helped by the fact that users log into a Threads account using their Instagram username and password, lending the new platform a built-in user base. Users can also import their Instagram followers list to Threads.

Posts on Threads can be 500 characters long, with the option to attach links, photos or videos up to five minutes long. Users can follow friends or public figures (celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian have already signed up) and like, re-post or reply to their posts.