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Threads is taking another step forward in its evolution, with the appointment of a new, dedicated leader for the app, giving it more specific focus within Meta’s suite of offerings.
Today, Meta has confirmed that long-serving executive Connor Hayes has been appointed as head of Threads.
Hayes has worked in various product management roles within the organization, and played a key role in growing Instagram Reels, as well as, more recently, on its generative AI projects. Hayes has also worked on creator support projects, including improved monetization pathways and tools.
Given his breadth of experience, Hayes seems like a good fit to help take Threads forward, while the dedicated focus could help Threads capitalize on its market opportunity, while also giving current lead, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, more time to focus on IG.
Though Threads will remain a part of Instagram, at least for the time being.
In announcing Hayes’ appointment, Mosseri explained that:
“The Threads team is still part of the broader Instagram team. But Threads at this point is a real platform that I want to make sure we take as seriously as our other apps, and so it needs a dedicated lead.”
A real platform. I wonder what threshold Threads needs to have crossed to achieve that tag?
Could it be, say, 400 million active users? 500 million?
Both milestones could be possible, considering that Threads had reached 350 million monthly actives at last check (back in April), while the latest app download stats suggest that Threads is still gaining momentum.
And once an app reaches a level of critical mass, that growth accelerates, as more conversations and more attention shifts to the app.
So it could be that Threads is now up to 400 million or so actives, which would put it firmly on track to supersede X as the top real-time social platform at some stage.
X currently has 600 million monthly active users, according to owner Elon Musk. But there are also indicators that X is trending downwards in terms of general popularity, and it could be that Threads is already a more significant platform in terms of overall time spent.
The appointment of a dedicated lead for the project does seem to suggest that Threads is gaining momentum, and becoming a bigger consideration for the Meta team.
Could it become the next billion-user app, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisioned at launch?
That’s a long way off, but the appointment of a Threads chief is another significant step.
