Threads, Meta’s alternative to X, formerly Twitter, had almost everything it needed to succeed. It’s backed by one of the biggest of the Big Tech companies. It’s directly integrated with Instagram, the mega popular photo sharing app. With all its powers combined, Threads was able to grow to 100 million users in just 5 days.
However, there was one crucial element that the platform was missing: A ‘dot com’ domain name.
But, as of April 24, Meta has solved Threads’ URL problem. Threads.com now officially points users to the web version of the Threads platform.
“Today, we’re moving from Threads.net to Threads.com,” Meta said in an announcement posted on the company blog alongside feature updates to the platform.
As Elon Musk continues to put his unique stamp on X, many liberal users are seeking out new social media homes. X competitors like Bluesky and Threads appear to have won out as the official Twitter replacements, although neither have come close to achieving critical mass.
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Threads finally using Threads.com as its official URL won’t beat out X alone, but studies have shown that internet users still use and trust .com domain names more than any other domain extension. This move from Threads.net to Threads.com will only help the platform.
Threads originally launched in July 2023 strictly as a mobile app. One month later, Threads rolled out the web version of the social media platform. However, Threads on the web was previously located at Threads.net.
Why? At the time, Meta simply did not own the dot-com domain. Plenty of users went to Threads.com when Meta launched the platform. However, users who visited the URL were then directed to a website for a startup company that was building a Slack alternative called Threads — not exactly an ideal user experience.
Unsurprisingly, the Slack alternative unfortunately named Threads later noted that it received acquisition interest from Meta. The following year, the startup announced that Shopify had acquired the company. Then, in September 2024, tech outlets noticed that the ownership information listed in the Whois domain records for Threads.com pointed to a new owner — Meta.
It’s unclear how much Meta paid for the domain name, but on Thursday, the company made Threads.com official.