After hitting 18-month high ahead of launch, Meta stock edges lower even as millions sign up on Threads

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Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of social media's most iconic companies, despite its recent struggles. The Threads app went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries and will run with no ads for now. "10 million sign ups in seven hours," Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account on Thursday.

Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist. Zuckerberg spent the first few hours of the platform's launch replying to new users. While Threads launched as a standalone app but was introduced as a clear spin-off of Instagram.

Threads offers a built-in audience of more than two billion users (Instagram boasts of more than 2 billion monthly active users), sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch.  Users can log in using their Instagram credentials and follow the same accounts, potentially making it an easy addition to existing the habits for Instagram users. Analysts have said Threads' ties to Instagram might give it a built-in user base and advertising apparatus. This may siphon ad dollars from Twitter at a time when Musk is trying to revive its business.

"Investors can't help but be a little excited about the prospect that Meta really has a 'Twitter-Killer'," Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at investment firm AJ Bell told news agency Reuters. Much like Twitter, the app features short text posts that users can like, re-post and reply to, although it does not include any direct message capabilities. Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos and videos up to five minutes