Threads, a Slack different fully unrelated to Instagram, has seen downloads surge

Instagram’s Twitter clone Threads loved a reasonably fruitful first week in existence, crusing previous 30 million customers within the first 24 hours earlier than passing 100 million signups inside 5 days. And simply yesterday, numbers from Knowledge.ai indicated that Threads has now hit 150 million downloads.

Nevertheless, one other fully unrelated app has been inadvertently thrust into the highlight off the again of Instagram’s try and capitalize on the Twitter mess.

Threads, a Slack different that launched out stealth again in 2019 with backing from Sequoia Capital, has seen a big improve in visitors to its web site within the days following its new namesake’s launch. That is largely owing to the truth that Threads (the Slack different) owns the Threads.com domain name, whereas Instagram’s incarnation is on the much less horny Threads.net (although the app doesn’t have an internet interface as of but).

This additionally led Threads (the Slack different) to have just a little enjoyable at Instagram’s expense.

At any fee, this confusion led Threads (the Slack different) to see a significant spike in downloads within the week instantly after Instagram launched its Threads. Between July 6 and July 12, figures supplied to Information World from Data.ai point out that Threads had greater than 880,000 downloads globally on iOS alone, having had “few downloads” prior up to now.

It was additionally the 52nd most downloaded app globally total, and third within the “enterprise” class. Curiously, the highest three markets the place it noticed its highest App Retailer rankings had been Germany, Spain, and Italy the place it averaged because the tenth most downloaded app that week between the three international locations. This was most likely as a result of Instagram’s Threads isn’t but obtainable within the European Union, which could have contributed to the confusion.

It’s an analogous story on Android too, with Threads now displaying greater than 1 million downloads.

Off the again of all this, Threads has needed to plaster “we aren’t related to Instagram” messages on its web site and App Store listing.

Threads.com homepage Picture Credit: Threads (the Slack different)

Title-check

Eventualities involving a number of firms sharing model names is nothing new. There are numerous firms known as Lightyear, together with two separate U.K.-based fintechs; a Dutch electrical automobile startup; and a New York-based telecom service procurement service. And there’s, in truth, one other startup known as Threads, a chat-based purchasing platform primarily based out of the U.Ok. 

So Threads’ (the Slack different) predicament is hardly a brand new phenomenon, notably when you think about that Instagram beforehand had a companion app known as Threads which it launched in 2019 and shuttered two years later.

“Threads is a robust phrase and an web native time period,” Threads co-founder and CEO Rousseau Kazi mentioned in a inventory assertion issued to Information World. “Utilizing threads — on varied platforms — is one of the simplest ways to remain related together with your [.net]work or [.com]pany. Given this, it comes as no shock that Meta selected a robust label to symbolize their take at constructing the city sq..”

Notably, Kazi additionally labored at Fb (earlier than it morphed into Meta) in a product administration capability for six years,

“Zuck (Mark Zuckerberg), Adam Mosseri (now Instagram CEO), and the crew are simply a number of the finest mentors and minds I’ve set to work with and be taught from,” Kazi added.

It’s price noting that the guests and downloads it has seen off the again of the confusion will unlikely have translated into new enterprise, as disillusioned customers could have rapidly realized that this was not what they had been in search of. Although the profile increase the startup has loved may very well be construed as nice free publicity.

Nevertheless, additional down the road if, or when, Instagram’s Threads good points extra traction, companies will doubtless should combine it into their social media technique. This might additionally get complicated for (would-be) prospects of Threads (the Slack different), as firms must handle two fully separate communication platforms with the very same identify.

Threads did affirm to Information World that it owns the trademark for its identify, although it declined to reply any additional questions on the matter, together with whether or not it plans to provoke any motion towards Instagram or its mum or dad Meta.