Meta Threads, one year on…

Threads by Meta recently celebrated its one year anniversary, and it has grown over the past 12 months as one might expect.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced on the platform itself that it now has in excess of 175 million monthly active users – you may remember that it attracted 100 million users within five days of launching in July of last year.

Threads released its API in June, and it added a new “Web Intents” element this month, allowing for direct engagement with Threads from a third-party site. Ads are also finally on their way to the platform…

With updates still being rolled out for the platform, it’s clear that Meta is still considering Threads a key player in the company’s future, at the very least for the short term.

Meta has the resources to funnel into Threads when required; it is, after all, the 7th biggest company in the world by market capitalisation.

Are Zuckerberg’s boasts of 175 million users really worth something, given that X has 250 million daily users?

Maybe.

While there is still a massive gap between the platforms, X’s user base is diminishing – down 8.9% year on year in the US and 17.7% YoY in the UK – while Threads’ base is growing.

Between this trend and Elon Musk’s tumultuous management of X, Threads may still be on its way to a more level footing with its rival. It’s also something that prospective advertisers will want to keep an eye on 

Despite being perceived as a rival to X, it’s worth considering that Threads isn’t presenting itself as a copy of X but with better moderation. It actually seems content with being a politics-free zone, or as much as it can be one.

As was the case for Instagram, Threads features a setting to limit “political content”, which is enabled for all users by default, and this has undoubtedly affected the sorts of content one will come across on the platform.

As Android Central’s Brady Snyder notes in his article: “When I go on Threads, I see cool desk setups, scenic views, and generally uplifting content. When I load up X, I want to pull my hair out due to the engagement bait, awful or misleading takes, and generally negative content on the platform.”

With users now having a choice of similarly functioning platforms including X, Threads and those with more ‘chaotic’ content like Bluesky, the idea of the ‘Cosy Web‘ could come into play again. Essentially, there might soon be a ‘Twitter’ for everyone!

• Advertisers don’t seem too tempted by Meta putting ads on Threads (Digiday)
• Meta Adds More Elements to the Threads API To Drive Engagement (Social Media Today)
• Threads cements itself as the antithesis of Twitter as it hits 175 million users (Android Central)
• Meta’s Threads is thriving one year in, but X is still in the fight (The Verge)
• Threads is One Year Old and Growing (Similar Web)