Threads, the new Instagram-linked and Meta-owned social platform got off to a flying start. But how is the platform faring a couple of weeks into its infancy? In the first week, daily active users were as high as 49 million users. By July 14th, just 10 days into the app’s lifecycle, active users were down to 23.6 million users – which is 22 percent of Twitter’s audience. Nobody at meta will be panicking at those numbers, it has had a fantastic start, and ups and downs for user numbers in the early days are to be expected in any new app.
It did highlight that the platform has a long way to go if it wants to topple Twitter and the little blue bird, oh sorry, I should say the X app. (For those who have not seen, Twitter’s new logo is an X in the latest eccentric decision from its owner Elon Musk.). Threads does a lot of things Twitter does, but it lacks features such as a chronological timeline and direct messages. Not to mention the platform is limited to mobile only at the moment.
So even if Twitter is on a bumpy road in the last 12 months, there is not much compelling on offer on Threads that people and brands have not already established on Twitter. As well as active users going down – time spent on the app by those still going to Threads dropped by more than 50 per cent.
It’s not just the general public that Threads is trying to attract, but brands too. One survey showed that 1 in 15 brands had already moved on to the platform, and 36 per cent of brands planned to at some point. Ultimately, they will go where their audience is.
It’s an interesting time in the social media landscape, with changes coming first and more competition than ever. Can there really be two Twitters? It has set up a landscape where the new kind of social discovery apps we are seeing more and more of, have an opportunity to grow and offer something different.