Threads in a tight spot after active users drop 70%

Threads will need to revamp its USP in order to remain an active competitor in the field of social media.

Instagram's ambitious attempt to compete with Twitter through its app "Threads" is facing significant challenges. (Bloomberg)

Just after receiving a huge response in the world of microblogging, the popularity of Threads seems to be fading away - fast. Instagram's ambitious attempt to compete with Twitter through its app "Threads" is facing significant challenges.

Declining Reports

A Forbes report indicates a sharp decline in user engagement of this so-called Twitter killing app. Despite Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's claims of high daily user numbers, the app's daily active users have gone down by a staggering 70 per cent from its peak in early July. It has only 13 million active users currently, down from 44 million from earlier in July.

In comparison, Twitter boasts around 200 million daily active users. This decline in user engagement would have come as a nasty shock to Meta especially as the start had been phenomenal. This failure to retain user interest, and that too in such a short time, means users are not interested in Threads, except as a novelty. That indicates a precarious future for the app.

Meta executives remain optimistic and claim to be working on introducing additional features to revitalize the app. But exactly how it will be different or better than Twitter has not been spelled out. At the moment it is a Twitter clone at best. However, the drastic drop in user activity suggests that Threads requires more than minor tweaks; it needs substantial Twitter-plus features to burnish its appeal.

Reports also indicate that Threads' daily time spent on the app has experienced a significant decline, with users now spending only 4 minutes on the app, compared to the initial 19 minutes, as per Sensor Tower. This has led industry experts to label Threads as the "Twitter killer" that failed to live up to its name. Despite the declining engagement, Threads managed to achieve a milestone of 150 million user sign-ups initially.

The app has seen the most significant adoption in specific markets, with India leading the way, accounting for approximately 32 per cent of its total downloads. Brazil follows with around 22 per cent of Threads' installations, and the US represents nearly 16 per cent of the overall downloads.

Battle with Twitter

Threads' battle against Twitter is proving to be an uphill one, with a considerable gap in daily active users. It remains to be seen if Meta can successfully revamp the app and regain user interest or if Threads will fall short as a major competitor in the social media landscape.

And the competition is set to get even fiercer as Jack Dorsey led Bluesky is likely to pull out all the stops that it currently has in place.