Twitter competitor 'Meta Threads' launching soon... Fierce competition in the SNS market

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Elon Musk's social networking service (SNS) Twitter has limited the number of posts that can be read per day, while Meta Platforms, led by Mark Zuckerberg, is set to launch a new SNS called 'Seuredeu' (Threads) soon. It is expected to become a 'rival' to Twitter based on Facebook and Instagram users, setting the stage for a showdown between Musk and Zuckerberg in the SNS arena.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 3rd (local time), Meta is expected to launch the new SNS service 'Seuredeu' on the 6th of this month. It already made a surprise appearance last weekend on the Google Play Store for Android users in Europe, attracting attention. According to the app description published on the app store, Seuredeu is an SNS similar to Twitter, where users can create text-based posts, 'like' them, comment, and share posts.

Meta has reportedly been developing the alternative app Seuredeu since January for users who have grown frustrated with Twitter, acquired by CEO Musk, who advocates freedom of expression.

In particular, the launch of Seuredeu comes at a time when CEO Musk announced restrictions on the number of posts Twitter users can read per day on the 1st. Musk limited Twitter Blue users to 6,000 posts per day, unverified accounts without Blue to 600 posts, and new users to 300 posts per day. After backlash, the limits were raised to 8,000, 800, and 400 posts respectively.

What the market is paying close attention to ahead of Seuredeu's launch is whether Meta will leverage Instagram users to attract them to Seuredeu. Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users, while Twitter has 363.7 million monthly active users. If Meta can transfer the Instagram user base as is, its new service is expected to have enough power to seriously threaten Twitter.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Social media experts and analysts see Seuredeu as a formidable competitor to Twitter, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. Meghana Dhar, a former executive at Snap and Instagram, said, "Meta is very good at 'copy-pasting' business models or products," adding, "While some criticize this as a lack of innovation, I actually think it's smart."

Since Musk acquired Twitter in October last year, other SNS platforms have been attracting Twitter users to expand their bases. Mastodon, regarded as an open and decentralized platform; Bluesky, supported by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey; and Truth Social, launched by former U.S. President Donald Trump, are representative examples. However, none have completely replaced Twitter.

In the case of Bluesky, after Musk announced the Twitter post reading limits on the 1st, traffic reached an all-time high, but performance degradation due to the traffic surge led to a temporary suspension of new sign-ups.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The market predicts that Meta's Seuredeu could generate more revenue than Twitter once launched. Meta has a larger user base, more advertisers, and a wider variety of advertising tools compared to Twitter, which is expected to result in higher ad rates and more ad inventory.

Meanwhile, the news of Seuredeu's launch also sparked a recent war of words between CEOs Musk and Zuckerberg.

On the 21st of last month, Musk sarcastically dismissed a Twitter user's question, "Will Seuredeu be a rival to Twitter?" by replying, "I'm scared to death." When another user warned, "Zuckerberg does jiu-jitsu, be careful," Musk responded, "I'm ready for a cage fight." Upon hearing this, Zuckerberg told Instagram to set a place for a showdown, to which Musk replied, "Las Vegas Octagon," escalating the exchange.

Following the war of words between the two billionaires, the world has shown interest in whether a real fight will materialize. Recently, reports have emerged that Dana White, UFC president, is quietly negotiating to arrange a match between them.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.