Threads: The inside story of Meta’s newest social app

Meta built Threads, a text-based conversation app launched on July 5 through an invitation shown to Instagram users, with the stated goal of letting people share content across platforms. The article says the app reached over 100 million sign-ups within five days, which it calls the most successful app launch of all time. The team, which grew to roughly 60 engineers over a few months, reused Instagram's Python (Django) backend and let users sign in with existing Instagram accounts. Meta says it is working to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social networking protocol, while keyword search began rolling out in English and Spanish.