(San Francisco) Threads, Meta’s latest addition, turns one on Friday. The rival social network to X now has 175 million monthly users, but it’s struggling to keep them engaged and find its place in an already crowded ecosystem.
“Threads now has over 175 million monthly active users. What a year,” Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, said on the platform on Wednesday in response to a message from Adam Mosseri, the boss of Instagram and Threads, thanking his teams.
In July 2023, as many users and advertisers deserted a Twitter bought and transformed by Elon Musk, Threads had a dazzling start.
In just a few days, the app was downloaded more than 100 million times, thanks in part to the super-simple way it was registered on Instagram. But user activity quickly declined, and remains the main downside.
“175 million is a big number,” acknowledges Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at Emarketer. “But it doesn’t necessarily reflect the number of people who are joining the service on a daily basis or the amount of time they’re spending on it.”
In an interview with the Platformer newsletter, Adam Mosseri said he was “proud” that all significant audience metrics, such as time spent on the social network on a daily basis, “are growing steadily.”
However, he renewed his ambition to “build the best online idea-sharing platform.”
X resists
“That means becoming bigger than X. It will take time, but I will consider it a failure if we don’t get there,” he said.
Or X reached 600 million monthly users and 300 million daily users last May, according to Elon Musk.
Figures that leave analysts doubtful, but still show the long road that remains to be traveled for the real-time conversation network.
“When Threads launched, X was struggling. But X has held up surprisingly well,” notes Debra Aho Williamson of Sonata Insights.
Sports and political discussions are still very active on X, and with the Olympics, Euro 2024 and this year’s US presidential election, among other major events, X will likely continue to attract users.
Debra Aho Williamson, analyst at Sonata Insights
Unlike X, Meta does not encourage the spread of political content, which can make discussions acrimonious and drive away part of the public. Political messages from accounts that users do not follow are therefore hidden by default.
“Take the war in Gaza right now. Do we really want to show people very strong views, pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian, coming from an account they didn’t choose?” asked Adam Mosseri on Platformer.
This operation could “attract more attention,” he acknowledged, but he felt it was not worth it given the “risks” and potential “anger” it could arouse.
” Taylor Swift ”
Jasmine Enberg understands this consensus approach, but points out that Threads sorely lacks “an identity of its own” that would make it an essential place for its users.
The platform needs to “create an identity that is not just ‘not X’ or ‘not Twitter’, nor just an extension of Instagram,” she explains to AFP.
Adam Mosseri’s team has so far focused on technical improvements to the social network, which does not yet have advertising and therefore does not yet generate revenue.
To impose Threads, the American group is counting on cultural and sporting discussions.
PHOTO JANE BARLOW, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Singer Taylor Swift on stage during her tour Eras at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh on Friday 7 June 2024.
“My daughters want me to mention that Taylor Swift is now on the app,” Zuckerberg joked during a Meta earnings call.
This remark from the boss “clearly shows the need to position the application as culturally relevant,” says Jasmine Enberg.
Ultimately, it’s the users who shape a platform’s identity, the analyst explains. But the new service “still relies heavily on Instagram to drive traffic and engagement, with notifications and links to encourage users [du réseau des images] to go and discuss on Threads”.
“There aren’t really any content creators specifically for Threads that would make the app a must-have for consumers.”