After enjoying phenomenal success when it launched, Threads has been in the spotlight a lot less lately. What is the current situation of the Meta social network which wants to compete with Twitter?
Threads is a social network affiliated with Instagram and whose principle is very similar to that of Twitter. Thus, from its launch, the platform was a huge success, registering 100 million registrations in less than five days. Threads was able to count on the many disappointed people of Twitter – renamed X – after the arrival of Elon Musk at its head.
Several weeks later, the media buzz died down, but Threads obviously continues to exist. Is the success still there?
A drastic drop in the number of users
The current situation for the application of Meta no longer seems as idyllic as when it was launched. According to the analyzes of the firm Sensor Tower – relayed by Business Insider — Threads ended July 2023 with 8 million daily active users. Compared to the peak of 44 million recorded a few days after the launch, this represents an 82% drop.
Shortly before, we learned, through Reuters, that Mark Zuckerberg addressed Meta employees in an internal meeting and then admitted that Threads had lost more than half of its users. The businessman claimed not to worry too much about it, even arguing that the retention was better than that hoped for at the start, even if it was “ no perfect “.
” It is obvious that if more than 100 million people register, the ideal would be that they all stay, or even half of them. We’re not there yet “, then explained Mark Zuckerberg to his employees.
Threads still blocked in Europe
Also remember that Threads has never been officially available on the European continent. However, for a few days it was very easy to create an account and use the app anyway. Frandroid thus has an account just like the majority of the members of its editorial staff.
However, Threads ended up being blocked in Europe in mid-July. If you use it in France, for example, even if you have created an account, you can hardly use the app (notably impossible to consult notifications or post a message).
It must be said that there are still several data collection issues to be resolved for Threads to ensure that it complies with European Union laws. Meta therefore claims to have taken additional measures to prevent people in Europe from accessing the app. This potentially contributed to a drop in the number of active users.
Once the situation is unblocked, people in Europe may be inclined to rediscover Threads.
New features to integrate quickly
For Threads, it seems obvious that the key to getting out of this bad patch is to add functions expected by users. Mark Zuckerberg has for example already promised the arrival, in the coming weeks, of a search to find the contents of messages (and not only users) and a complete desktop mode.
We must therefore expect to see Threads continue to beef up its game in order to worry Twitter and, above all, to prove that its success was not just the story of a passing buzz.
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