Exclusive: Meta names Connor Hayes head of Threads
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Longtime Meta executive Connor Hayes has been named head of Threads, Axios has learned, marking a significant milestone for the two-year old product.
Why it matters: Instagram head Adam Mosseri has overseen Threads since its inception, but as the app has grown, so too has its need for a leader solely focused on its future.
- "Given Threads' maturity, we think we need a dedicated app lead who can focus all of their time on helping Threads move forward," Mosseri wrote in a Thursday staff memo obtained by Axios.
Zoom in: Mosseri said Hayes will begin his new role by mid-September and will report to him directly.
- Once onboarded, all product managers, engineers, designers, data scientists and user experience researchers working on Threads will report in through Hayes, he added.
- Threads data engineers will continue reporting through Brad Ruderman, Meta's senior director of data engineering.
Catch up quick: Hayes was part of the original team that built the first version of Threads when it launched in 2023.
- He later served as Meta's vice president of product for generative AI.
- Hayes first joined Facebook in 2011 and has served in various product roles across Meta and Instagram over the past 14 years.
Zoom out: The move comes as Threads continues to grow rapidly around the world.
- While X is still the dominant real-time, social discourse platform in terms of global daily web visits, Threads is on the cusp of catching up in terms of mobile app users, according to Similarweb data.
Between the lines: Meta launched Threads in 2023 as an offshoot of Instagram.
- Having access to Instagram's user base of more than 1 billion people helped Threads grow quickly, especially compared to other real-time, social discourse apps like Mastodon and Bluesky.
- In his staff note, Mosseri said Threads now has more than 350 million monthly users.
Between the lines: When Threads first launched, the product was closely linked to Instagram. Today, it's "grown into a platform with its own culture, its own energy, and a rapidly growing community," Mosseri said.
- To that point, he added that more than a third of daily Threads users with connections follow different accounts on Threads than on Instagram.
- "It's exciting to see Threads establishing its own unique user base," he noted.
What to watch: Meta continues to roll out new Threads features that make the app more akin to X, formerly Twitter, which launched in 2006.
- Earlier this month, it finally rolled out direct messaging, a longtime user request.
Editor's note: This story was updated with additional data.
