Threads took the world by storm when it launched in July, but recent dips in user numbers have spread doubts about the platform’s longevity. So, what’s in store for Threads — and X — next?
Meta’s newest social media platform Threads took the social media landscape by storm when it launched on July 5th, reaching 100 million sign-ups within five days of its launch - making it the fastest growing platform ever, beating OG Facebook, Tiktok and even ChatGPT. However, after a promising start, Threads’ active users suddenly started to drop quickly, prompting many to walk back their initial praise and cast doubt on the platform’s longevity.
Now, as the dust begins to settle and Elon Musk muses putting X behind a paywall, we’re here to ask a question. Is Threads just a flash in the pan, or is a comeback inevitable for an app that is backed by Meta?
9 minute read
8th December 2023
At its core, Threads is a micro-blogging platform that unashamedly positions itself as a competitor to X/Twitter. After you create an account, you’ll be able to thread (“tweet”), repost, and quote others in a giant online conversation. It is familiar territory for X users and stands out as particularly cheeky in a world where social media companies often ‘adopt’ features that are inspired from their competitor’s apps. Using Threads, it feels less about hopping on the latest user behaviour trend and more like Zuckerberg is trying to eat X alive.
Setting their obvious similarities aside, the main distinction between X and Threads lies in the content that’s shared on these platforms.
Over the last months and years, X has carved its niche as a reliable virtual battleground for political discourse, social commentary and breaking news. The ever-increasing animosity of its conversations — and the outspokenness of its figurehead Elon Musk — has turned it into a revolving door of controversy since its acquisition in April 2022.
Conversely, Threads has positioned itself as a more inclusive and brand-friendly environment, a space for communication that is focused on stimulating civil conversations and connections. If Elon’s futuristic vision for X is a do-everything app where anything goes, Zuckerberg’s goal is grounded firmly in the present. This is a text-based online space he wants to make safe for advertisers today.
The Numbers
Threads | X | |
Post length | 500 characters | 280 characters |
Links | Yes |
|
Photos | Yes |
|
Videos | 5 mins | 2 mins 20 seconds |
Verification | Yes (via Instagram) | Yes ($8) |
Delete account | No | Yes |
DMs | No | Yes |
Trending stories | No | Yes |
Hashtags | No | Yes |
Ads | No | Yes |
Bots | Yes | Yes |
It is no secret that a large portion of X’s users have been growing increasingly discontent since Elon Musk’s takeover. From charging $8 for verification badges and limiting the number of tweets users can see to flip flopping on drastic, platform-changing policies — it is obvious that there is little coherent strategy behind X’s actions. This means a significant portion of X’s user base are potentially up for grabs to the right competitor service.
Compounding X’s potential vulnerability are its ongoing issues with brand safety. Since he dramatically culled ~80% of his staff early into his takeover, Musk has been on a mission to reduce the platform’s content restrictions — something which has jarred employees and outsiders alike. High profile internal losses include most of the brand safety team, two successive Heads of Trust and Safety and their Head of Brand Safety & Ad Quality.
Whilst this move has been applauded by some, its reception by the advertising industry and businesses at large has been frosty. Talking to our Head Of Social, Ant, the sentiment was clear.
“Post-takeover, our clients have gone off advertising on X — something we agree with. As an agency, a platform that provides shaky performance, limited target audience opportunities and carries a high risk to reputation is no longer a logical choice for most business cases.”
The ongoing internal free for all at X has led to a mass exodus of advertisers on the platform, fleeing what they view to be an unsafe brand environment. This problem is an ongoing one: two high-profile companies recently suspended advertising on the site after their ads appeared on and alongside white supremacist and Neo-Nazi accounts.
Zuckerberg has aimed to capitalise on this growing corporate and consumer hunger for alternative platforms by launching Threads. A previous version of Threads was originally launched back in 2019, but it didn’t resonate with users as anticipated. The relaunch under the current climate of dissatisfaction among X users has resulted in a significantly different response, initially propelling Threads to the forefront of the social media landscape.
When Threads launched, X’s traffic initially suffered a significant blow. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, somewhat ironically tweeted a screenshot showing Twitter’s traffic “tanking” — a clear indicator that Threads was biting their user base.
The huge interest spike was beyond Meta’s wildest dreams. Threads secured 5 million registrations in a matter of hours, before breezing past the competition to secure 100 million users in just five days. It was glorious, unprecedented and almost instantaneously became the most rapidly downloaded app in history. Sure, it wasn’t live in the EU yet due to privacy law concerns, but with this kind of adoption it didn’t seem to matter.
What many failed to predict was a sudden, terminal decline in active users on Threads following its launch. The app went from 2.3 million active users to 576,000 in the space of a month, a 79% drop in engagement. Considering its astronomical rise in popularity, a serious drop in traffic was almost guaranteed — but this was significant and sustained. Engagement was way, way down.
Meta’s woes were accelerated by a media and content creator feeding frenzy as word of the drop began to spread. The incredible success of Threads’ launch had made for excellent headlines, but the prospect of an even more public failure was simply irresistible schadenfreude. The new narrative was out: Threads was dead on arrival, it was the new Google Plus, the latest in an ever-growing line of Meta missteps.
Despite the slightly dire situation Meta finds themselves in, we don’t think it’s time to count out Threads just yet. Why you might ask?
Whilst we all enjoy gazing into our crystal ball from time to time, right now X is still walking tall as the text-based social platform of choice. Threads’ huge boom in popularity, followed by its equally catastrophic implosion, baffled pundits and analysts alike. The long distance race many predicted had turned into a 100 metre sprint — with a clear and surprising winner. However, when we look closer, a different story could well be emerging. Does the rapidly changing and increasingly partisan nature of X’s future aspirations mean we got it all wrong? Perhaps these are two companies competing in completely different disciplines. Only time will tell.