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Threads Usage Drops By Half From Initial Surge (similarweb.com) 167

Posted by BeauHD from the yikes dept.
Despite being the fastest-growing online platform in history, Meta's Threads is struggling to retain regular customer engagement. According to SimilarWeb, the Twitter rival saw daily active users decline from 49 million on July 7th to 23.6 million on July 14th. Furthermore, usage in the United States declined from 21 minutes per day to just over six minutes in the same time period. Here's are the key takeaways from the report: - On its best day, July 7, Threads had more than 49 million daily active users on Android, worldwide, according to SimilarWeb estimates. That's about 45% of the usage of Twitter, which had more than 109 million active Android users that day.
- By Friday, July 14, Threads was down to 23.6 million active users, or about 22% of Twitter's audience.
- Usage in the US, which saw the most activity, peaked at about 21 minutes of engagement with the app on July 7. By July 14, that was down to a little over 6 minutes.
- In the first two full days that Threads was generally available, Thursday and Friday, web traffic to twitter.com was down 5% compared with the same days of the previous week. Although traffic bounced back, for the most recent 7 days of data it's still down 11% year-over-year.
- On the days of peak interest in Threads, Twitter's Daily active users on Android, worldwide, were virtually unchanged, but time spent was down 4.3% -- perhaps because some users were off trying Threads. Even with that drop, however, the average total time spent on Twitter was about 25 minutes.

To a large extent, Threads solves the "empty party problem" that makes it tough to start a new online community by allowing Instagram users to instantly create a Threads account, bringing their existing contacts with them. Our daily usage numbers make Meta's claim of having achieved more than 100 million total account signups in a matter of days seem reasonable. However, Threads is missing many basic features and still needs to offer a compelling reason to switch from Twitter or start a new social media habit with Threads.
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Threads Usage Drops By Half From Initial Surge More

Threads Usage Drops By Half From Initial Surge

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  • Not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Equuleus42 ( 723 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @09:33PM (#63695112) Homepage

    Saw that coming. If they can gain users that quickly, they can lose them just as quickly also.

    • Re:Not surprised (Score:4, Informative)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday July 18, 2023 @04:52AM (#63695716)

      No one is lost. People just reduced playing with the new thing. Honestly drawing any conclusions in the first month of a new service is just silly. The initial high spike was not all new customers, mostly just a realestate grab, this wane in interest here is not lost customers, just a plateau to what is likely normality after the honeymoon is over.

      In other news I used my Steamdeck about half as much this past week than I did the week before. Why? Because it was new the week before and I was doing all sorts of senseless playing around.

    • Did they even gain users? I'm sure people are just out there trying to claim usernames and then logging right back out.

    • It's Facebook. They didn't have the users to begin with.

  • Uses the same garbage algo that Instagram uses. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by linzeal ( 197905 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @09:48PM (#63695140) Journal

    There is no option just to see the feeds that you are subbed to, they force feed you political wonks, sports chuds, and rando influencers.

    This ain't 2009, no one wants a non-curated social media feed firehose like ol'school Facebook.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Chas ( 5144 )

      That and they're still heavily policing innocuous (AND FREE) speech.

      People see that and run.

      And the people who were BEGGING for that sorta thing, like that idiot Taylor Lorenz, are finding that it REALLY doesn't treat them well.

    • Instagram has the option to turn off suggestions in your feed, but it lasts only for 30 days. After that, you have to do it again (and again), but it's better than nothing.

      AFAIK, this setting isn't in Settings, but instead you have to select it from the pop-up menu on a suggested post itself.

  • Usual Meta Money Pit (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @09:50PM (#63695144)

    I went to sign up but was immediately turned away because it required an Instagram account. Not sure why they'd shoot themselves in the foot like that. I don't use Instagram, and am not interested in signing up. If they really want to be a Twitter competitor, just let me sign up with my email. Seems like it's the usual Meta story... dumb decision after dumb decision.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      It gets worse. All the terminally online leftoid "Elon is a nazi and destroyed my ability to get people fired via twitter outrage" crowd are currently whining that not only are they getting banned for trying to pull that shit on threads... but since most of them are women, they really care about their instagram accounts.

      And if you get banned on threads, you get banned on instagram. So the reactions have been almost as good as the reactions of terminally online rightoids on twitter to recent clip of Trump sa

      • It gets worse. All the terminally online leftoid "Elon is a nazi and destroyed my ability to get people fired via twitter outrage" crowd are currently whining that not only are they getting banned for trying to pull that shit on threads... but since most of them are women, they really care about their instagram accounts.

        Oh wow a fascist and sexist moron.

      • I find it funny everyone losing their minds at "leftoid" as if your comment wasn't actually bipartisan disdain lmao (of course they stopped reading at "leftoid" and missed the "rightoid" dig). In any case, I agree with the genuine hilarity lol.

    • "Not sure why they'd shoot themselves in the foot like that. "

      There's zero chance that someone morally opposed to one Meta product would willingly sign up for another Meta product. They haven't actually lost any users that way. Meanwhile, they leverage the account infrastructure they already have.

  • All that wasted electricity and hardware. Damn shame.

  • No Web interface, no sale... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17, 2023 @10:01PM (#63695174)

    One can view linked communications on Threads via the web, but needing an app in order to any meaningful interaction with the social network gets old. Phones are nice, but to get real work done, it is a lot easier on a decent screen, with a good keyboard. Even Truth Social offers a usable Web UI, which is one of the few things I'll state in its favor.

  • Ya, everyone made an account because it was easy.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PubJeezy ( 10299395 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @10:01PM (#63695176)
    Ya, everyone made an account because it was easy and then realized you can't control you feed or search in any meaningful way. So because of the landrush from marketers, the only thing users were seeing was a wall full of spam, reactions to the spam and the fake memes about how much better threads was then twitter.

    I think this is bigger than one platform or another, I think free social media is dead as a concept. Gaming it out, any platform that relies on growth metrics and advertising dollars will eventually have to destroy their own platform. Eventually, the needs of the advertisers and the needs of users will find themselves in disagreement. If only one of those groups is payin', then that's the group you're going with.

    We need smaller, user-supported social media platforms with human moderators. This model can be sustainable (have mod hours directly hooked up to the subscription fees at a capped ratio). This model can create the kind of digital town square we all want from the internet. It just can't create passive income...so maybe I'm crazy for even suggesting it ðY£ðY£ðY£

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Mastodon is DOA and has been so for a long time. And reddit rapidly degenerated into the worst of humanity commanding power and abusing everyone else. So model you're suggesting is not desirable by real users. It's also a hell of a mirror of real society, where people are actually just animals capable of abstraction with all the instincts of large predatory mammal and not some idealized beings.

      In fact, Twitter seems to be ultimately the best tool for human condition. It's not the thing we want, but it's the

      • Twitter works because you get what you choose (Score:4, Interesting)

        by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @11:36PM (#63695332)

        I haven't left Twitter yet for anything else because I only see who I follow.

        I have a few different Twitter accounts, like one for programming, and one for photography.

        Each one has posts I enjoy seeing, with good content.

        In part that is because Twitter has great management tools.

        I can mute specific keywords so if people I like start in on politics I don't want, those posts are gone.

        I can mute some people for a while if they go really crazy, or just block some altogether if they are annoying.

        Every now and then I look at the Algo feed and choose few new people to follow, that look really interesting.

        Why would I want to go anywhere else?

        Some people's answer seems to be "well because these EVIL NAZIS exist on the platform". Not to me they don't, I don't follow them and nothing I do would recommend them to me.

        In real life people you don't like also exist, why freak out if the same is true on Twitter?

        • I haven't left Twitter yet for anything else because I only see who I follow.

          As long as you notice when Twitter randomly switches your feed to "For you" instead of "Following" and switch it back.

        • Kill the wabbit. Twitter is burning cash due to lower advertising. If Threads can redirect spending away fro Twitter and evolve offerings there is potential. Most important to me is choice to pressure platforms to open up n censure sensibly .

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dwedit ( 232252 )

        Mastadon isn't one site, it's for any site that wants to have a Twitter style UI for content.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          Mainline Mastodon instance where overwhelming majority of non-pedophile Mastodon communities are on the other hand is indeed one site.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by narcc ( 412956 )

            Oh, the irony of the right calling the left peods [mass.edu]...

            I swear, every accusation is a confession you freaks.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              What are you on about?

              I noted that the main instances of Mastodon after the purges from a lot of SV platforms a couple of years ago in the wake of that new US law, a lot of pedo groups migrated to one of the five or so Mastodon instances they themselves host.

              Of which two survived to become biggest non-mainline Mastodon instances currently in use.

              Nothing to do with political divide. That law was bipartisan you insane wingnut.

        • Technically, Mastodon doesn't have to favor any one UI style. It's more about protocol and federation. Implementation could lead to any sort of layout details. Though I could be wrong - I doubt I'll ever use it unless I take the time to set up my own instance.

    • They still have an insane amount of activity on the platform right now. So much so that it's going to draw a huge amounts of advertisers.

      Any advertiser that was considering heading back to Twitter it's not going to bother now. And Twitter's comment section has become a cesspool of the worst kind of alt-right nastiness and outright racism and homophobia now that all it takes to show up at the top of a comment section is pain eight bucks a month. I can honestly say it would be nervous about having my bran

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by iMadeGhostzilla ( 1851560 )

        Lefties hate Musk -- over his insistence on free speech (!) -- but no one likes Zuckerberg. The speed at which engagement dropped from 100% to 50% indicates there is more dropping to be done.

        • Re:Even with a 50% drop (Score:5, Insightful)

          by narcc ( 412956 ) on Tuesday July 18, 2023 @04:30AM (#63695672) Journal

          If you think Musk cares about free speech, you're [theatlantic.com] delusional [cnbc.com]. As for why the left hates Musk, it has absolutely nothing to do with free speech.

          • The article is wrong to say Musk wants free speech only for himself. He wants MORE than free speech for himself, and that is his shortcoming, but he wants free speech for the society he lives in.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by narcc ( 412956 )

              but he wants free speech for the society he lives in.

              The evidence suggests otherwise. [gizmodo.com]

              • Put it this way: there is no dispute that since Musk took over Twitter, the level of free speech on the platform has increased. The left confirms that, indirectly, by asserting that the level of speech they hate has increased.

                (The "cis" slur ban, while stupid and unnecessary IMO, refers to repeat and targeted use towards a specific person, akin to calling someone a "fag", even though the latter is much more toxic given the history, so far, and I doubt such use would fall under protected speech by legal stan

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by narcc ( 412956 )

                  there is no dispute that since Musk took over Twitter, the level of free speech on the platform has increased.

                  False.

                  • Democrats on Twitter are less happy with it and Republicans are happier. Given that almost all traditional and social media are pro-Democrat, and that Twitter's leadership was not often just Democrat but "progressive", the fact that conservatives find it they are freer to express their views on the platform forces you to conclude -- if you were an alien watching what humans in America are doing -- that the amount of free speech online has increased (which is I admit not the same from free speech on Twitter

          • Correct. Among other things, they hate him for putting a car in space instead of several tons of bricks, because that car could have fed Bernie's starving child for nearly 3 whole seconds.

            Speaking of starving children, rsilvergun has been waiting over ten minutes for his happy meal, so put your phone away and get back to work.

          • As for why the left hates Musk

            The Left hates. The Right hates. How can anyone choose to be a part of hate? I get upset. I get angry. I explicitly do not hate anything other than hate itself.

            Shame on you for participating in the madness.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

          Lefties hate Musk -- over his insistence on free speech (!)

          The guy who declared "cis" to be a bannable slur on his social media platform insists on free speech? Go on, sir, pull the other one.

          • "Twitter owner Elon Musk has declared both ‘cis’ and ‘cisgender’ are slurs on the social media platform, warning people who engage in “repeated, targeted harassment” by using them face account suspensions."

            It is a slur only if you repeatedly use it on someone, which would not fall under protected speech by government standards.

            That said I think the decision is stupid and unnecessary. It is a stupid word, it means something only to a small group of people, and really means

    • Ya, everyone made an account because it was easy and then realized you can't control you feed or search in any meaningful way.

      Everyone that made an account did so because they were hoping a platform backed by a gazillionaire like Zuckerberg could be a drop-in replacement for the Old Twitter (and at the same time, they were desperately hoping that Zuckerberg-money meant that Mean 'Ole Musk Twitter would die immediately). When it was apparent that Threads is going to be just another Meta-platform for gathering data on you, cramming you into THEIR model, they gave up hope. Before Threads, the great Fuck Musk hope was Mastodon.

      Now the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by anegg ( 1390659 )

      Wouldn't smaller user-supported social media platforms result in a large amount of fragmentation? Back when "Usenet" was the main social communications tool, there was only one "Usenet". There were other forums, like AOL, Compuserve, GENIE, etc., so there was still fragmentation, but Usenet was freely available to everyone and was widely used.

      With everyone jumping into the act and trying to create the next big thing, we've ended up with massive fragmentation (broadcast TV to streaming media is another ex

  • Worst issue - your Instagram endangered (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Monday July 17, 2023 @11:09PM (#63695290)

    Everyone knows from the starting reports, that you can't delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account.

    No big deal, you can just stop using right?

    Well an aspect of that I did not expect but people are rapidly finding out, that if your post angers the VERY heavy handed Meta moderators, and your Threads account is locked - well that ALSO locks your Instagram account! And good luck finding anyone who can reverse that.

    This is affecting people all over the political spectrum.

    If you valued your Instagram account at all, I would never enable Threads because even a single post might get come loser complaining and shutting down your Instagram for good.

    Given that almost all of the accounts on Threads come from people who already had and used Instagram, this is a massive issue that I don't think they can recover from even if they manage to fix this link. It has screwed over too many people now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      this is a massive issue that I don't think they can recover from even if they manage to fix this link. It has screwed over too many people now.

      You're the guy who insisted that Twitter is going to be profitable by November. Why would anyone care what you think?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "This is affecting people all over the political spectrum."
      But only people like you in negative ways. For everyone else, it's desirable.

      " I would never enable Threads because even a single post might get come loser complaining and shutting down your Instagram for good."
      If it's the nature of your posts to cause that, why would you value an account on a platform where that happens?

      "...this is a massive issue that I don't think they can recover from..."
      Nothing more valuable that deep SuperKendall insights.

      "It

    • So I guess that answers the question of whether Instagram is just a federated login or irrevocably tied to it. Would have been smarter to keep it separate and allow using federated sign in with other Meta accounts like Instagram or Facebook.

  • There are still a lot of people who don't want to use an app only site, threads said the desktop or website wasn't available at launch. Kind of a major thing to not have ready even weeks after launch.

  • There's a beta version that inflicts the sound of Elon Musk's musings on you. Today it was all "I deserve a cookie", and "Mwa-ha-ha".

  • ... I mean sure, I bet it felt good to say "hah, take that Elon!" and pretend to switch.

    But it wasn't much fun after that, was it?

  • Sure, everyone likes schadenfreude, but is this news that a new service will have an initial surge followed by a drop to some baseline?
  • Ha Ha!

  • I tried the new soviet restaurant. Food not so great. Will keep eating at the local diner.

  • They try to write it like that's not happening but it is. They mentioned twitters decline in users, the gain in threads, the drop in threads, but don't discuss any increases in twitter usage.

    That's clever peoples way of pushing the narrative. It's very low key but it is what it is. Watch for that in your daily life regardless of what you believe.

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