Getty Image / Justin Sullivan
Threads was launched by Meta in early July it was seen as a ‘Twitter Killer’ at a time when Elon’s X, formerly known as Twitter, was floundering due to glitches, bugs, and countless other issues that both predated Musk’s acquisition and arose after he took over.
In early July, Threads reportedly boasted 44 million daily active users after launching but it was reported that number quickly tailed off to 13 million daily active users. A lot of people on social media mistakenly assumed the decline would continue without taking a moment to pause and realize Threads was only a few days old.
On this week’s Meta earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Threads is absolutely thriving. The Twitter killer boasts 100 million active monthly users.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Robust Threads Monthly Active Users On Call
Speaking about Threads on the call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg put Elon’s X/Twitter on notice. Zuckerberg said “We’re three months in now, and I’m very happy with the trajectory. We’re now getting to the point where we’re going to be focusing on growing the community further. From what we can tell, people love it so far.”
@Zuck went on to tell Meta shareholders “I’ve thought for a long time there should be a billion-person public conversations app that is a bit more positive.” Zuckerberg added “I think that if we keep at this for a few more years, then I think we have a good chance of achieving our vision there.”
Reading between the lines: Meta plans on killing Twitter with kindness and not by stirring up the hornet’s nest every single day (Musk’s approach to X). And given that Facebook has 1.4 billion daily active users compared to X’s 183M, it is very realistic to think they are headed in that direction.
Adam Mosseri who is Head of Instagram and also oversees Threads send out a thank you to all of the Threads users who have helped the new product achieve the sustained 100 million monthly active users threshold:
Post by @mosseriView on Threads
We previously shared a GIF of the Threads vs Twitter battle on the @BroBible Threads and it seemed like the perfect time to bring it back as it accurately describes where the next few years are headed:
Post by @brobibleView on Threads
The Battle of Threads vs Twitter
A report from the Wall Street Journal turned up X, formerly known as Twitter, as currently having 183 monthly active users.
That same report revealed that ” X’s daily active users via mobile apps dropped by 16% in September compared with the month Musk took over.” Meanwhile, Spapchat, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook have all increased in daily active users since October 2022. Only X is losing daily active users. X has also seen a sustained downswing in new app downloads since rebranding from Twitter to X.
Twitter’s staff has been gutted with huge portions of the staff being let go. Advertising revenue in the U.S. is down 60% according to the WSJ report. This has all contributed to the company’s reported value plunging to $20 billion from the $44 billion Elon Musk spent to acquire it.
Musk DID roll out a new feature this week, the ability to make phone calls in the Twitter mobile app which is, of course, a feature every single phone with the Twitter app already has.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta reported quarterly earnings of $34 billion. That was up 23% from Q3 of last year.
With the incredible gains Threads is making in under 4 months and the sustained earnings + growth slide at X, it doesn’t take a degree from Wharton to forecast where all of this is headed.