People flock to Zuckerberg's new social network ‘Threads’

Meta's new social network service (SNS) Threads, emerging on Wednesday (local time) as a competitor to Twitter, is creating a buzz. The anticipated real-life clash between Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is expected to intensify further.

On Thursday, CEO Zuckerberg shared in a Threads post that more than 30 million subscribers have signed up, and he has a sense that something extraordinary is about to unfold. It has been 16 hours since its launch. Notable figures like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, television personality Oprah Winfrey, consumer goods companies such as Starbucks and Sephora, and even Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador expressed their congratulations and support. When Gates posted a video of himself playfully jumping off a chair and commented, “I'm excited to jump into @threadsapp,” Zuckerberg responded, "That's quite a leap!" Gates currently boasts approximately 62.9 million followers on Twitter.

The storm surrounding the new social media platform is rooted in several factors. Firstly, Threads is built upon Instagram, a platform with a user base of 2 billion people worldwide. Additionally, it follows Elon Musk's unexpected comments after acquiring Twitter last year, which resulted in the surge in demand for alternative social networking services to replace Twitter driven by the eased content regulation policies.

Twitter has levied allegations of “plagiarism” against the Threads. In a letter addressed to Meta, Alex Spiro, known as Musk's attorney, cautioned that Meta was engaging in systematic and unlawful appropriation of Twitter's trade secrets. The letter also served as a warning against potential legal consequences.


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com