Celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Shakira and Lando Norris are ALREADY using Meta’s new ‘Twitter-killer’ app Threads ahead of its global launch tomorrow
It’s one of the most eagerly-anticipated apps of the year, and now it seems that several celebrities have been given early access to Threads.
The new Meta app will launch at 3pm GMT tomorrow, and has been described by experts as a ‘Twitter-killer.’
However, ahead of its global release, it appears that several celebrities have been given access
Gordon Ramsay, Shakira and Lando Norris are just a few celebrities who have already posted on Threads.
Meanwhile, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has also posted his first Thread, simply writing: ‘Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads.’
Threads is a free app that’s being described by Meta as a place where ‘communities come together’ to discuss topics through text – which sounds rather a lot like Twitter.
‘Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,’ the app description says.
‘Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.’
It will go live at 3pm GMT tomorrow, with anyone who already has an Instagram account set to be given a Threads account with the same username.
Ahead of the global launch, Meta has given several lucky celebrities early access to the app.
Chef Gordon Ramsay posted his first Thread, cheekily writing: ‘Is this where I find the lamb sauce??’
Meanwhile, singer Shakira simply opted to write: ‘Well hello Threads,’ along with a a waving hand emoji.
Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have both been given early access, with Norris opting to post a video of himself with the caption: ‘Waiting for my friends to join me.’
Other celebrities who have posted today include footballer Kingsley Coman, MMA Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, 5x Christmas number one creators LadBaby, podcaster Steven Bartlett, NBA star Seth Curry, investor and business guru Gary Vee, and comedian Adam Waheed.
Threads has been nicknamed the ‘Twitter killer’ online amid animosity between rival billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who have said they would like a cage fight with the Colosseum in Rome a potential venue.
Musk appears to be more keen having repeatedly urged Twitter users to delete their Facebook accounts, calling the social network ‘lame’ in the past.
Initially, Threads will only be available on iOS when it’s released on Thursday, so Android users will have to wait.
It’s possible Meta has timed the release of Threads to capitalise on recent anger directed at Twitter, which has been putting more and more features behind a paywall.
Musk revealed at the weekend that users who aren’t subscribed to its £11 per month subscription service Twitter Blue are limited to reading 600 tweets per day – although he later said this would soon increase to 800.
It sparked the trending hashtag #RIPTwitter and caused ‘delete Twitter’ searches on Google to skyrocket 983 per cent in the UK, according to comparison service CasinoAlpha.
Twitter dropped another bombshell this week when it revealed TweetDeck will only be available to people paying for Twitter Blue in less than a month’s time.
TweetDeck – a desktop application that displays tweets in columns – was acquired by Twitter for $40 million in 2011 after operating as its own independent application.
