Threads crosses 150 mn monthly active users, says Mark Zuckerberg

Meta CEO has said Threads is on way to become the next billion-user social network in company's portfolio of apps

Threads, Meta's text-based conversation app, has more than 150 million monthly active users, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has said about a service designed to compete with Elon Musk-owned X (previously known as Twitter).

Monthly active users at Threads figure increased to 130 million in February from around 100 million users in October last year, Moneycontrol.com reported.

At an earnings meeting for Meta, Zuckerberg said: "[Threads] continues to be on the trajectory that I hope to see."

He said in July that he expected Threads to become the next billion-user social network in Meta's apps suite which also includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Since Threads’ launch last year, Meta has been working on creating a range of new features like a fully functional web application, keyword search, trending topics, edit button, voice posts, and the ability to support multiple accounts. Additionally, the company has been boosting Threads' posts on its video and photo-sharing platform, Instagram, in order to expand its social network, Moneycontrol reported.

In March this year, Meta took a significant stride towards fulfilling its commitment to enhance interoperability for Threads. It started allowing users in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Japan to share their posts to the ‘fediverse’. The fediverse comprises decentralised social networks, such as Mastodon, that can interact with one another using the ActivityPub protocol. The feature will be available to all users with public profiles above the age of 18 in these countries.

Meta is testing a Threads API, aiming to empower creators, developers, and brands to construct their own distinctive integrations, efficiently manage their Threads presence, and distribute content to their communities, the Moneycontrol report stated.

Meta's API empowers developers to authenticate, publish posts, and retrieve their own content. Additionally, the company has recently introduced reply management capabilities, enabling users to access responses to their posts, configure reply settings, and conceal or reveal specific replies.

In a blog posted earlier this month, the company said, "Insights are one of our top requested features for the API, so we are making it possible for people to fetch key metrics for their posts, including the number of likes or views. We are also working on webhooks, which will allow developers to receive real-time notifications when certain events occur on the platform, such as a reply to a given post."

Meta said it is currently working with companies such as Grabyo, Hootsuite, Social News Desk, Sprinklr, Sprout Social, and Techmeme, with plans to make the API available by the end of June this year.