Meta’s Threads, launched a year ago, now boasts 175 million active users and is positioned as a potential rival to Elon Musk’s X.
With high-profile endorsements and a blend of text, images, and videos, Threads aims to offer a more brand-friendly alternative to the traditional social media landscape.
Twenty five million user added in the last three months
Since its launch on July 5, 2023, Threads has experienced rapid growth. Initially, it attracted millions of users overnight, including celebrities, politicians, Instagram users, and corporate brands.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Threads had gained 25 million active users in the past three months alone. Despite this growth, Threads remains significantly smaller than X, which had 600 million monthly active users as of May 2023.
Strategic focus on non-contentious content
Threads’ leader, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, believes the platform can surpass X by avoiding the contentious content that has characterized X, such as hard news, politics, and hot-button social issues.
Instead, Threads focuses on providing up-to-the-minute news and commentary about celebrities, sports teams, and fashion trends without the divisive debates.
This strategic focus is intended to create a safer environment for both users and advertisers.
Expansion in Asia and continuous updates drive growth
Mosseri attributes Threads’ growth to several factors, including expansion in overseas markets like Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as some attrition from X.
The app has benefited from a steady stream of new features and updates from its fast-moving team.
These features include a chronological “following” feed, an edit button, search features, trending hashtags, and a desktop version with customizable feeds.
While these updates have been crucial for Threads’ “most passionate users,” Mosseri notes that the most impactful changes are often behind-the-scenes improvements.
These include enhancements to the ranking algorithm used for the default “For You” feed, which some users have criticized for showing irrelevant posts.
Mosseri believes Threads is getting better at “interest modeling” but admits that “Instagram is still way better” at it.
Meta has its reasons for steering clear of political content. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans are paying less attention to political news, and trust in media brands has declined.
Meta has long argued that most people use platforms like Facebook and Instagram to share personal updates and follow creators rather than keep up with the news.
Twitter, now X, achieved cultural relevance by capitalizing on news and commentary, promoting its users’ “citizen journalism” as a superior alternative to traditional news outlets.
Advertisers have often shied away from X due to its toxic environment and lackluster marketing tools. Major brands prefer to place ads alongside less contentious topics, which Threads aims to provide.
The future of Threads
As Threads continues to grow, the next four months will be critical in testing its ability to compete with X.
The app’s initial novelty has worn off, and its growth has slowed compared to its first five days when it signed up more than 100 million users.
With a clear focus on non-political content and continuous updates to improve user experience, Threads has the potential to carve out its niche in the crowded social media landscape.
Adapting to user preferences
Meta initially envisioned Threads as an Instagram for words—a place for influencers, celebrities, and ordinary social media users to share text-based updates with friends and followers.
As the platform evolves, it must adapt to the preferences of its users, particularly Gen Z, who are more inclined towards visual content.
By blending text, images, and videos seamlessly, Threads can cater to a broader audience and sustain its growth trajectory.
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