Key Points
- Meta launched its rival app to Twitter on Thursday.
- Threads has largely been well-received.
- There are some concerns over the platform's use of personal data.
Meta on Thursday launched Threads, a new text-based conversation app that has widely been described as rivalling Twitter.
The app can now be downloaded in more than 100 countries, including Australia — but it's not yet available in the European Union due to regulatory uncertainty about the microblogging platform's use of personal data.
Two million users signed up in the first two hours of Threads' launch, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said.
While many users' first posts were a mixture of hellos and querying how the platform worked, others poked fun at Twitter and internet culture, and remarked at how addicted they already were to Threads.
Australian politicians also joined in the fun, with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews making reference to how he started press conferences during the pandemic.
"Everyone right to go?," he wrote.
Labor MPs, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, were among those to share and comment on the post.
Others, such as federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton, used their first Threads post to discuss more serious matters.
Despite Threads' largely positive reception, some users suggested the novelty might quickly wear off, as it has with other social media platforms.
While Threads shares many similarities with Twitter, several users noticed features such as hashtags, trending topics, drafts, and pinned posts were noticeably missing from what Meta said was the "initial version" of the app.
Because Threads is an app-based platform, it also means posts can't be embedded on other sites, only shared.
Extra features are expected to be rolled out in further app updates.
