Facebook’s social media platform, Threads, dubbed as the new Twitter, has made headlines yet again. Not for its innovation or marked growth, but its staggering drop in user engagement. This is not a repeat scoop of a hushed Silicon Valley whisper – this is an alarming 70 percent plunge in daily active users since its initial launch. This gargantuan setback has raised eyebrows, especially considering how this Twitter-clone emerged as a beacon of competition for Twitter, the juggernaut of the microblogging world.
Social media app Threads, Meta’s new Twitter alternative, has seen a 70% decline in the number of daily active users since its July 7 peak. https://t.co/64CLSBvdAY
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 21, 2023
Threads was launched amidst grand anticipation, promising to offer users an alternative platform where open and public conversations can take place. The initial burst of enthusiasm was unprecedented. Just one week after its launch, Threads attracted an astonishing 100 million sign-ups. Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for a new-age Twitter seemed to resonate with the global audience, leading to a promising start.
After sailing through the honeymoon phase, the platform has hit a rocky slope. Blinded by the initial sign-up numbers, the sobering truth of the silicon-ruled world was overlooked. The number of active users plunged from 44 million to a dismal 13 million in a matter of weeks. The average daily time spent on Threads also witnessed a significant decline, falling from 19 minutes to a meager four minutes. This sharp dive reflects a severe problem with user engagement, casting a dark shadow over the future of this much-hyped platform.
Lia Haberman, a noted social media marketing lecturer and adjunct professor at UCLA, encapsulates this crisis succinctly, saying, “It is wholly irrelevant how many people sign up. What matters is the level of engagement and interaction.” It appears that the glitter of the initial sign-up phase belied a growing disillusionment.
Nevertheless, Facebook seems determined to stem this downward spiral using an ingrained Silicon Valley’s strategy – introducing new features. A bid to revamp user experience and boost engagement, although details of these new features remain concealed. Regardless of the burgeoning crisis, Mark Zuckerberg remains undeterred, expressing his optimism and also subtly throwing shade at Twitter in a statement on his app, stating “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.”
Threads, born with the vision to dethrone Twitter, has found itself at the crossroads much sooner than anticipated. With plummeting user engagement, the platform is grappling between promises of revamp and a bitter reality check. However, this isn’t just a wake-up call for Threads alone but serves as a powerful reminder for Silicon Valley trendsetters. An ominous warning that initial user sign-ups are mere vanity metrics, the true value of any social media platform lies in consistent user engagement and interaction.
Yet, as the sun sets on another tumultuous day in the valley, we wonder: Can Threads stitch up its unraveling repute or will it threadbare into oblivion? Either way, one thing remains certain – user engagement trumps all. As we await more details on Facebook’s refurbishing plan, one can’t help but ponder. Will the new features arrest the downward spiral or will they merely be a band-aid to a deep-seted problem? Only time will tell.
