Instagram's Threads broke the 100-million-user barrier in a matter of days

By Oliver Haslam
published

That's a lot of people.

Threads for Instagram
(Image credit: Future)

Instagram's Threads, an app that appears to have launched in an attempt to compete with Twitter, now has more than 100 million users.

The number, which was reached within just five days following last week's go-live, was confirmed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It was also confirmed by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri.

However, neither have confirmed how many people are actively using the service which might suggest that the figure is considerably lower than the 100 million mark.

Mosseri's Threads post suggests that even he didn't expect 100 million people to join Threads so quickly.

"100 million people signed up for Threads in five days," Mosseri said. "I’m not sure I can wrap my mind around that fact. It’s insane; I can’t make sense of it."

Zuckerberg's thoughts were similar to Mosseri's, with his Threads post saying that he "can't believe it's only been 5 days" since the service went live.

Signing up to Threads is of course extremely simple if you already have an Instagram account, something that could have helped the Twitter competitor reach such a high number in such a short period of time. It's still very early days for Threads and it will now be up to Zuckerberg and Mosseri to make sure it builds on this early momentum.

It'll have to do it in an environment where Twitter owner Elon Musk isn't taking the competition too well. He's already taken legal action, claiming that Instagram hired former Twitter employees and is using trade secrets against it.

As for Threads, you can try it out for yourself now. It's available in more than 100 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, but plenty of countries are not currently supported. E.U. member countries are excluded over regulatory concerns related to the use of users' data.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Just_Me_D
    Per the article, “…. However, neither have confirmed how many people are actively using the service which might suggest that the figure is considerably lower than the 100 million mark.”

    “Signing up to Threads is of course extremely simple if you already have an Instagram account, something that could have helped the Twitter competitor reach such a high number in such a short period of time.”

    In other words, you are automatically signed up for Threads if you have a current Instagram account… ;)

    With that being said, nowhere in the article does it warn users of the service’s horrendous privacy policy. Instead, we are “given the impression” that millions have left Twitter to sign up for threads in very quick fashion.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Dont really see Instagram users actually using threads, they prefer pictures.
    Reply
  • Ed7789
    Just_Me_D said:
    In other words, you are automatically signed up for Threads if you have a current Instagram account… ;)
    That is actually not the case. You really need to seek out the app to activate an account there.
    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    Ed7789 said:
    That is actually not the case. You really need to seek out the app to activate an account there.

    Okay. I was “wrong”. Thanks for letting me know.
    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    FFR said:
    Dont really see Instagram users actually using threads, they prefer pictures.

    I found this interesting tidbit from another site/

    The decision to tie Instagram and Threads accounts together so closely was likely made to prevent a large portion of users from offloading from the service after initially checking it out. While deactivating your Threads account hides your posts from your profile, the only way to delete the data associated with your account is to delete the account entirely.

    Before signing up for Threads, be aware that this new account will be linked to your Instagram account in more ways than one.

    Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-sign-up-use-threads/
    Reply
  • FFR
    Just_Me_D said:
    Okay. I was “wrong”. Thanks for letting me know.

    I don’t think you were wrong, since you can’t delete threads without deleting Instagram.

    Another example is when you finally activate your threads account, it’s already populated with your Instagram followers. I don’t think it’s linked, i believe it’s basically instagram with comments instead of pictures, with a Twitter theme.

    I
    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    FFR said:
    I don’t think you were wrong, since you can’t delete threads without deleting Instagram.

    Another example is when you finally activate your threads account, it’s already populated with your Instagram followers. I don’t think it’s linked, i believe it’s basically instagram with comments instead of pictures, with a Twitter theme.

    I
    Thanks, but technically speaking, I was wrong. With that being said, I still believe the numbers are smoke and mirrors. I definitely don’t like how users appear to be trapped after accessing the service. This is Microsoft all over again. Trap users into using Internet Explorer by tying it to Windows.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Just_Me_D said:
    Thanks, but technically speaking, I was wrong. With that being said, I still believe the numbers are smoke and mirrors. I definitely don’t like how users appear to be trapped after accessing the service. This is Microsoft all over again. Trap users into using Internet Explorer by tying it to Windows.

    How do you create an account? you log in with your Instagram account



    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    FFR said:
    How do you create an account? you log in with your Instagram account




    Hahaha….I love it.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Just_Me_D said:
    Hahaha….I love it.

    If you don’t have an Instagram account to log in to threads, you have to create an Instagram account then log in to threads.



    Reply