Tech

Mark Zuckerberg's Threads platform hits 100 million users in 5 days, growing faster than ChatGPT

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook
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Threads has passed the 100 million user mark just five days after it launched, according to estimates from data tracking platform Quiver Quantitative.

The Meta-created Twitter clone has been a hit with users, reaching the milestone even faster than OpenAI's ChatGPT, per The Verge.

Launched in November, the chatbot hit 100 million monthly users just two months later in January. Recently, however, traffic to the AI-powered chatbot has started to drop off, according to web analytics website Similarweb.

Threads owes much of its success to its connection with Instagram. The Twitter rival is a companion app to Meta's established platform and users can link their profile to their Instagram accounts. Unlike ChatGPT, an independent product, Threads has unique access to Instagram's roughly more than two billion active user base

Meta's Threads appears to be initially popular with users, despite lacking several basic features.

Zuckerberg said last week more than 10 million people had registered accounts just seven hours after its launch. The CEO added on Friday the platform had surpassed 70 million sign-ups, calling the response: "Way beyond our expectations."

The platform, aimed at Elon Musk's Twitter, has launched at an opportune time as Musk's platform grapples with another turbulent period. Earlier this month, Twitter temporarily restricted the number of tweets users can see and prevented unregistered users from seeing tweets at all.

The move irritated some users, especially those who rely on the platform for their work or to promote their personal brands. 

After Threads' first launch, several tweeters took to the platform to say goodbye to Twitter and Musk's erratic leadership. Many shared memes and screenshots of new Threads accounts, encouraging their followers to switch platforms too.

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Beatrice Nolan was a tech reporter on the business news team in the UK. She joined Insider in January 2022 as a fellow on Business Insider's careers desk. Beatrice covered tech and the future of work, with a focus on artificial intelligence. Some of her stories and early experiments with ChatGPT are widely cited. Beatrice has also discussed her work covering AI trends on panels and radio shows, including NPR.She was based in Business Insider's London office and graduated from the University of  York with a bachelor's degree in English.Featured Articles:Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control.ChatGPT was a black swan eventFinland is the world's happiest country, but Finns say we're confusing happiness for something elseThe world is splitting between those who use ChatGPT to get better, smarter, richer — and everyone elseThis man used AI to write and illustrate a children's book in one weekend. He wasn't prepared for the backlash.ChatGPT has only been around for 2 months and is causing untold chaosTwo professors who say they caught students cheating on essays with ChatGPT explain why AI plagiarism can be hard to proveChatGPT wrote college application essays. Admissions professionals said they passed for essays written by students but wouldn't have a chance at any top colleges.College professors are considering creative ways to stop students from using AI to cheatChatGPT wrote my cover letters. Here's how recruiters responded.