While Threads is a standalone app, users can log in using their Instagram credentials, which makes it an easy addition for Instagram's more than 2 billion monthly active users.
Twitter, by comparison, had 229 million monthly active users in May 2022, according to a statement made before Musk's buyout of the social media platform.
Mastodon, another Twitter-like app, has 1.7 million monthly active users, according to its website, while Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky has about 265,000 users.
Threads does not have hashtags and keyword search functions, which means users cannot follow real-time events like on Twitter.
Overall, analysts said Threads was a strong competitor to Twitter, which has been rocked by abrupt decisions by Musk.
Persons:
Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Gordon Ramsay, Niklas Myhr, Mark Zuckerberg, Pinar Yildirim, Jack Dorsey, Bluesky, Zuckerberg, Musk, Jasmine Enberg, Marques Brownlee, hasn't, Aditya Soni, Yuvraj Malik, Bansari, Shounak Dasgupta
Organizations:
Twitter, Chapman University, Facebook, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton, Intelligence, Bloomberg News, Union, Thomson
Locations:
Las Vegas, Bengaluru