Mark Zuckerberg's 'Threads' Has Already Seen A Drop Of 70% Of Daily Users
It's been less than a month since Mark Zuckerberg's Meta introduced its "Threads" social media app and already things are starting to significantly slow down.
The Instagram-affiliated app came out to mass appeal as over 100 million people initially downloaded the Twitter-like text app in the first few days. However, data analysis shows that many users aren't returning - and if they are, they are doing it for much less of a time.
After the initial massive surge of 100+ million, Threads daily active users has now dropped by 70%, according to market data firm Sensor Tower. Perhaps even worst - those that are still using the app appear to be bored - with time spent on the app dropping from an average of 19 to just 4 minutes per day. By comparison, Twitter averages 200+ million daily users with an average retainer time of 30 minutes.
Mark Zuckerberg's Threads app is taking on Elon Musk's Twitter. (Credit: Getty Images)
Yes, even though some people claim to be so mad at Elon Musk, many of those same people are still tweeting on his platform realizing that they are not getting the same engagement on Zuckerberg's Threads app.
It's the social media version of always going back to an ex-partner after a relationship. No matter how hard people are trying to "quit Twitter," they are so crazed and obsessed that they are still viewing the platform, at least for now.
TWITTER STILL REIGNS FOR NOW
A major problem with Meta is the fact that it's... Meta.
Previously known as Facebook, the newly-branded Meta comes with its share of difficulties. First off, it's hard to get rid of the stigma of being "Facebook," the uncool - only your aunts and uncle still use it platform. Another aspect many social platforms are realizing is that the average person hates new things - it's extremely hard to build up a legitimate audience in this fast-paced digital world. Snapchat only recently started having some success after trying for over a decade and let's not even talk about the pandemic-lockdown voice app Clubhouse!
The new Threads app has also faced criticism for it's data privacy issues. The European Union has straight up banned Threads from being downloaded over Meta security concerns. They've even stopped people from using VPNs to connect to the app.
Oh and if that wasn't enough... YOU LITERALLY CAN NOT GET RID OF IT ONCE YOU DOWNLOAD IT. (Unless you delete your entire Instagram account) Yikes!
WHAT NEXT?
Although Threads saw initial success in the early days of its launch, while at the same time Twitter's web traffic was down 5%, Twitter has since recovered while Threads continues to fall.
In a recent Threads post, Zuckerberg said that he expected the original number of users to drop simply realizing that many initial users joined out of curiousity. He also argued that the company is in the early stages and that Meta will adapt with Threads just as they have done previously with Instagram, Reels and Facebook. "I'm confident Threads is on a good path," Zuck said.
There's no doubt that Threads is in its early stages and that obviously changes and new features were going to be expected. But so far it doesn't appear that Threads is working to the expectations that were placed upon it - whether realistic or not.
I've argued that it simply comes down to this basic premise: Instagram is used primarily by people who take photos and don't want to write. People that want to write use Twitter. That's what made the two platforms different. To automatically assume everyone that is obsessed with photo filters is going to suddenly want to be talkative on a consistent basis may have been a little bit of a stretch.
Perhaps Threads will be able to deplatform Twitter one day as they continue to improve their app. Or who knows, maybe they'll have some help from Musk himself if some of his own platform's issues continue.