Meta’s Twitter rival Threads launches web version

Threads, Meta’s challenger to depose Twitter as the go-to platform for celebrities, companies and governments, is now available on the web as it seeks to revive its underwhelming launch.

A web version of Threads is seen as key to attracting professionals and media types who are the most active users of social media and post mainly from their computers during working hours.

“Threads.net is now live for everyone. Let us know what you think,” posted Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Thursday, who also leads Threads.

Until now, Threads was accessible only as a mobile app on iPhones and Android phones.

“The Threads team is working hard to bring this experience to parity with mobile, and will be adding more functionality to the web experience in the coming weeks,” a spokesman said.

The rival to Twitter (now called X) was rushed out in early July by Meta, which invited its more than a billion Instagram users to download the app.

This helped Threads become the fastest downloaded app ever, crushing the previous record held by AI sensation ChatGPT.

But the initial excitement did not last, with usage by the early adopters falling steadily ever since and users calling out for a web version of the app and other tweaks.

Many of the celebrities who were given a privileged early access to Threads—such as Jennifer Lopez or American Football star Tom Brady—have posted only rarely.

X, owned by Elon Musk, still dominates as the platform for comment and news, but the chaos endured at the platform since the Tesla owner took over has eroded its success and sent users seeking alternatives.

One measure of usership, by company Similarweb, showed that daily active users on the Android version of Threads dropped to 10.3 million from the peak of 49.3 million.

In the week of the Threads launch early last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cautioned the app would “take time to stabilize, but once we nail that then we’ll focus on growing the community.”

Threads is not available in Europe because parent company Meta is unsure how to navigate the European Union’s data privacy legislation.

© 2023 AFP