In a harmonious blend of cultures, prominent figures from both Africa and Europe swiftly joined Threads, Meta’s groundbreaking Twitter rival.
Within hours of its launch, luminaries such as Kim Kardashian, Shakira, Oprah Winfrey, Kourtney Kardashian, Will Smith, and Jennifer Lopez became part of the vibrant Threads community, alongside over a million other enthusiastic users.
With their star power, these celebrities effortlessly garnered tens of thousands of followers shortly after establishing their accounts on this innovative app, aptly christened the “Twitter killer” by Mark Zuckerberg.
But it wasn’t just Hollywood and the music industry that embraced Threads. Notable personalities like Jack Harlow, Zayn Malik, Gordon Ramsay, Karlie Kloss, Liam Payne, Ellie Goulding, and even the Dalai Lama logged in to connect with their fans on this dynamic platform.
As the Threads community flourished, African musicians such as Adekunle Gold, Blaqbonez, Chike, Sean Tizzle, Maleek Berry, YCEE, Dremo, Bayani, and Darey Art Alade also eagerly joined the platform, adding their unique voices to the global conversation. Accompanying them were notable stars from Nollywood, including Alexx Ekubo, Beverly Naya, Ruth Kadiri, and Ronke Odusanya. Skitmakers like Mr Macaroni, Crazeclown, Josh2funny, comedian Kennyblaq, and TV host Ebuka lent their creativity to the platform as well.
In his inaugural post on the platform, Mr Macaroni playfully remarked, “Nothing to dread using thread, It’s the same playbook from the owner of Facebook.” Ebuka, on the other hand, shared a picture of himself with a captivating caption, “Twitter never saw this.”
Jennifer Lopez, affectionately known as J.Lo, enthusiastically dived into the conversations by sharing her first threads. She greeted the Threads community with a resounding “Hola Threads! What should we thread about first?!” and eagerly expressed her fondness with “Can’t get enough of your threads.”
Mark Zuckerberg proudly announced that over 10 million individuals worldwide had already signed up for Threads, Meta’s formidable contender to Twitter, within the initial hours of its launch. The app made its debut on the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday. As a gesture of goodwill, the app will initially remain ad-free. However, its release in Europe encountered slight delays due to concerns surrounding data privacy.
Threads emerged as the most formidable challenger yet to Elon Musk’s Twitter empire, which has witnessed the rise of various potential competitors, but none have succeeded in toppling one of the world’s largest social media platforms despite its recent challenges.
“10 million sign-ups in seven hours,” Zuckerberg triumphantly announced on his official Threads account on Thursday, solidifying the app’s promising future.
Alongside these influential figures, well-established celebrity accounts such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Hugh Jackman, as well as prominent media outlets like The Washington Post and The Economist, were already active on the platform, adding to the vibrant tapestry of voices and perspectives.
Expressing his vision on Threads, Zuckerberg shared, “It’ll take some time, but I believe there should be a public conversations app with over 1 billion people on it. Twitter had the opportunity to accomplish this but fell short. Hopefully, we will succeed.”
The array of celebrity accounts expanded to include Nigerian film producers like Pheelz and Samklef, social media influencers such as Tunde Ednut and Linda Ikeji, and health influencer Aproko Doctor. Each contribution further enriched the vibrant tapestry of thoughts and experiences on Threads.
Describing the essence of the new app, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed Threads as an open and friendly space for conversations to flourish, welcoming users from all corners of the world.
The release of Threads coincided with Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s controversial decision to limit the number of tweets users could view per day, adding an intriguing twist to the unfolding social media landscape. With a familiar layout reminiscent of Twitter, Threads empowered users to share posts up to 500 characters in length, including links, pictures, and videos of up to five minutes.
As Africa and Europe converged on this innovative platform, Threads evolved into a beautiful mosaic of diverse cultures, united by the power of conversation and connection.
