The Rise and Growth of Meta Threads
Meta Threads, the social networking app developed by Meta (formerly known as Facebook), has recently achieved a significant milestone. Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Meta, announced during Meta’s Q1 2024 earnings call that Threads now has over 150 million monthly active users, surpassing its previous count of 130 million in February. This growth indicates a stable trajectory for the platform and highlights its increasing popularity among users.
Threads was launched on June 5 last year as a “text-based conversation app” that allowed users to share messages up to 500 characters long, along with links, photos, and videos. The app made a splash upon its debut, attracting over 10 million users from the start. In fact, it reached the milestone of 1 million downloads on the Google PlayStore within just one day of its launch. Threads quickly gained attention due to its unique features that set it apart from other social networking platforms like Twitter.
However, despite its promising beginnings and the initial surge in sign-ups, Threads faced a notable decline in active users shortly after its introduction. Third-party data from SimilarWeb revealed a sharp decrease in daily active users on Android. For example, the number of daily active users dropped from 49 million on July 7 to 23.6 million on July 14, and further declined to 12.6 million by July 23. This downward trend in active usage posed a significant challenge for Threads in maintaining user engagement and retention over time.
In light of these challenges, Meta has been taking steps to revitalize Threads and ensure its continued growth. Recent developments include integrating Threads with ActivityPub, a decentralized protocol used by networks such as Mastodon. This integration allows Threads to expand its visibility across other servers and attract a wider user base.
Moreover, Meta plans to broaden Threads’ API access to a wider range of developers by June, enabling them to create customized experiences around the social network. However, it remains uncertain whether Threads will allow developers to create fully-fledged third-party clients, which could potentially enhance the app’s functionality and user experience.
Interestingly, Meta recently launched its AI chatbot across Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, but excluded Threads from this rollout. This decision may be attributed to Threads’ lack of native direct messaging functionality. However, Meta’s focus on expanding the capabilities of its AI chatbot across its other platforms indicates the company’s commitment to providing advanced features and improved user experiences.
Threads has also introduced a trial feature that allows users to automatically archive their posts after a specified period. This feature gives users more control over their content and allows them to manage their visibility settings. The ability to individually archive or unarchive posts adds a level of customization that can enhance user engagement and retention.
Overall, despite facing initial challenges, Threads has steadily expanded its user base under Meta’s guidance. With Meta’s continued efforts to integrate with other networks, broaden API access, and introduce new features, Threads has the potential to maintain its growth trajectory and establish itself as a prominent player in the social networking landscape.
