Instagram’s Twitter clone Threads had a fairly fruitful first week, racking up more than 30 million users in its first 24 hours before passing 100 million logins in five days. And yesterday data from Data.ai indicated that Threads has now reached 150 million downloads.
However, another completely unrelated app has accidentally been thrust into the spotlight due to Instagram’s attempt to capitalize on the Twitter mess.
Wires, a Slack alternative that launched stealth in 2019 with backing from Sequoia Capital, has seen a significant increase in traffic to its website in the days following the launch of its new namesake. This is largely due to the fact that Threads (the Slack alternative) owns the Threads.com domain namewhile the Instagram incarnation is less sexy Threads.net (although the app doesn’t have a web interface yet).
This also led to Threads (the Slack alternative) having a little fun at Instagram’s expense.
In any case, this confusion caused Threads (the Slack alternative) to see a big spike in downloads the week after Instagram launched its Threads. Between July 6 and July 12, figures were provided to businessroundups.org from Data.ai indicate that Threads had over 880,000 downloads worldwide on iOS alone, and had “few downloads” before that.
It was also the 52nd most downloaded app worldwide and the third in the “business” category. Interestingly, Germany, Spain and Italy were the top three markets where it saw the highest App Store rankings, where it averaged the 10th most downloaded app among the three countries that week. This was probably due to Instagram’s Threads not being available in the European Union yet, which must have added to the confusion.
It’s a similar story to Android toowith Threads now showing over 1 million downloads.
After all this, Threads has had to post “we are not associated with Instagram” messages on its website and App Store listing.
Threads.com homepage Image credits: Threads (the Slack alternative)
Name check
Scenarios where multiple companies share brand names are nothing new. Over there are countless companies called Lightyear, including two different UK fintechs; a Dutch startup for electric cars; and a Based in New York procurement service for telecom services. And there is in fact another startup named Wiresa chat-based shopping platform in the UK
So the predicament of Threads (the Slack alternative) is hardly a new phenomenon, especially when you consider that Instagram previously had a companion app called Threads, which it launched in 2019 and shut down two years later.
“Threads is a powerful word and Internet term,” Threads co-founder and CEO Rousseau Kazi said in a stock review issued to businessroundups.org. “Using threads – across platforms – is the best way to stay connected with you [.net]work or [.com]panic. Given this, it’s no surprise that Meta chose a powerful label to represent their take on the construction of the town square.
Notably, Kazi also worked at Facebook for six years (before it turned into Meta) in a product management role.
“Zuck (Mark Zuckerberg), Adam Mosseri (now CEO of Instagram) and the team are easily some of the best mentors and minds I’ve worked with and can learn from,” Kazi added.
It’s worth noting that the traffic and downloads it’s seen due to the confusion probably didn’t translate into new customers, as disappointed users will soon realize that wasn’t what they were looking for. Though the profile boost the startup has enjoyed could be taken as great free publicity.
But if, or when, Instagram’s Threads gains traction, companies will likely need to integrate it into their social media strategy. This can also be confusing for (future) customers of Threads (the Slack alternative), as companies would have to manage two completely separate communication platforms with exactly the same name.
Threads confirmed to businessroundups.org that it owns the trademark for its name, though it declined to answer further questions on the matter, including whether it plans to take action against Instagram or its parent company Meta.
