Mark Zuckerberg-backed Meta's Threads is a true threat to Musk-owned Twitter, analysts say

Meta's Threads could quickly become a major threat to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, thanks to its easy access to billions of Instagram users, a similar interface to that of its rival and advertising heft of social media giant, analysts and industry experts said.

Dubbed as "Twitter-Killer", Threads logged 10 million sign ups within first seven hours after its launch, with celebrities from Kim Kardashian to Gordon Ramsay joining app.

Meta Platforms' shares were up 1 per cent in premarket trading on Thursday, after y closed 3 per cent higher in previous session ahead of roll out of Threads.

"Wher planned or t, Meta's release of Threads came at perfect time to give it a fighting chance to unseat Twitter," said Niklas Myhr, a professor of marketing at Chapman University, referring to turmoil at Twitter after it limited number of tweets users can see.

"Threads will be off to a running start as it is built upon Instagram platform with its massive user base and if users adopt Threads, advertisers will be following closely behind."

While Threads is a standalone app, users can log in using ir Instagram credentials, which makes it an easy addition for Instagram's more than 2 billion monthly active users.

Twitter, by comparison, had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022, according to a statement made before Musk's buyout of social media platform.

Mastodon, ar Twitter-like app, has 1.7 million monthly active users, according to company's website.

Some analysts said Threads was reminiscent of Meta's success in integrating crucial features of platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok in case of Instagram's Stories and Reels, respectively.

At least four brokers raised ir price target on Meta, whose shares have already doubled in value this year.

" doubt re will be bumps in road, but Threads could provide support to Meta's share price if it turns out to be a success, as its huge number of initial sign ups suggests," said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

Available in more than 100 countries, Threads was top free app in Apple's US App Store, while Twitter ranked 26.

Threads was also among trending topics on Twitter where many users shared links to ir profiles on rival app and memes, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who on Wednesday posted on Twitter for first time since 2012.

launch was clearly a first stab at a service as it lacked bells and whistles of Twitter.

Threads does t have hashtags and keyword search functions, which means users cant follow real-time events like on Twitter. It does t yet have a direct messaging function and also lacks a desktop version that certain users, such as business organizations, rely on.

Some users including popular tech reviewer Marques Brownlee also posted about need for a feed that only consists of people one follows. Users currently have little control over main feed.

Overall, though, analysts cheered what y said was a strong competitor to Twitter, which has been rocked by abrupt decisions by Musk since he acquired it for $44 billion last year.

"re should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," Zuckerberg said on Threads.