In the weeks since Meta launched its challenge to Twitter, which continues to exist despite its issues, Threads popularity has declined after experiencing a meteoric rise in the initial few days.
Data from Sensor Tower, a market research company, shows that since Threads made a splash on July 6, the average daily time spent on the platform has dropped by more than 75%.
As Twitter descended into instability under the management of erratic businessman Elon Musk, Threads was soon hailed as a potential death knell for the social media network.
More than 100 million users signed up for the debut in less than five days, shattering ChatGPT’s previous record for fastest-growing consumer app while also providing relief and excitement to early adopters who had been departing Twitter.
“I actually closed down my Twitter account after starting Threads,” said Brooklyn resident Lauren Brose, head of marketing at a tech start-up.
“I used to love Twitter. After Elon Musk took over Twitter, I found that the entire environment just changed completely.”
Weeks later, though, Threads has observed a “material decline in new sign-ups,” according to Sensor Tower.
According to Silicon Valley investor and analyst Jeremiah Owyang, Twitter continues to dominate its market as a medium for online commentary and news, and Musk “would have to completely destroy it” to permanently alienate its users.
“Will Threads kill Twitter? Absolutely not. It’s just not equivalent,” he said.
At debut, Threads was available in 100 countries’ Apple and Android app stores, but it isn’t in Europe because parent company Meta isn’t sure how to deal with the EU’s data protection laws.
Twitter is estimated to have 200 million regular users, but since Tesla entrepreneur Musk purchased the network last year and fired the majority of its personnel, it has experienced several technical difficulties.
Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, has alienated customers by charging for formerly free services and re-approving right-wing accounts.
Without a question, Threads had a significant advantage over other would-be Twitter substitutes.
A number of competitors have developed, although the most are specialized systems unable to surpass Twitter in size.
However, Meta was able to quickly encourage Instagram users to create Threads accounts by drawing on the platform’s user base of at least a billion people.
