Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, announced that Threads is now accessible on its web version, expanding its availability beyond mobile phones. This strategic move by Meta aims to capture users who have been searching for an alternative platform to Elon Musk’s Twitter.
Meta’s newly owned social media platform has posed a significant challenge to Elon Musk’s Twitter—now rebranded as X—by attracting millions of users upon its launch. The introduction of a web version intensifies the competition between the two platforms.
Mosseri, who also leads Threads, shared in an Instagram post: “Threads.net is now live for everyone. This feature has been widely requested in recent weeks. While there’s more work to do to enhance the overall experience, we wanted to provide something simple sooner rather than later. We’re eager to hear your thoughts.”
In a separate statement, a spokesperson from Meta affirmed, “The Threads team is diligently working to bring the web experience in line with the mobile version and will be incorporating additional features in the upcoming weeks.” Controversial decisions made by Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last year, have incited frustration among millions of users.
This new venture from Meta has the potential to succeed, particularly in attracting professionals and media personalities who actively use social media, often posting from their computers during work hours.
Meta hastily launched the competitor to X in early July, inviting over a billion Instagram users to download the app. Threads quickly became the most rapidly downloaded app ever, surpassing the previous record set by the AI-powered ChatGPT. Despite the initial excitement, user engagement among early adopters steadily declined, prompting demands for a web version and other enhancements.
Many celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez and American Football star Tom Brady, who were granted early access to Threads, have posted infrequently. X, which was acquired by the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, remains a dominant platform for commentary and news.
However, turmoil within the platform since Musk’s takeover last year has diminished its success and driven users to explore alternatives. According to Similarweb, a company that measures user activity, daily active users on the Android version of Threads plummeted from a peak of 49.3 million to 10.3 million.
During the week of Threads’ launch last month, Meta CEO Zuckerberg cautioned that the app would “require time to stabilize, but once we achieve that, we’ll focus on community growth.” Notably, Threads is unavailable in Europe due to Meta’s uncertainty about navigating the European Union’s data privacy regulations.
