Meta's social media platform, Threads, celebrated its first anniversary this week with over 175 million active users, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday. While Threads has grown steadily, it still trails behind X (formerly Twitter) in scale and influence. In March, X reported about 250 million daily users and 550 million monthly users. Despite claims by X owner Elon Musk of record U.S. usage, some estimates suggest a decline.
Threads was launched during a turbulent period for X. Musk's initial interest in buying Twitter, and subsequent controversial decisions led some users to explore alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky. Meta capitalized on this by quickly amassing nearly 100 million monthly active users within the first three months of Threads' launch. By the end of 2023, this number had grown to 130 million, reaching over 150 million in the first quarter of this year. Zuckerberg noted that Threads' growth was meeting his expectations.
Entertainment and music news, particularly among Gen Z, drive significant engagement on Threads. A recent Meta survey conducted with Wakefield Research highlighted the popularity of tags related to Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," among the top five tags over the past three months. Zuckerberg also mentioned Taylor Swift joining Threads, emphasizing its impact on his household.
The success of social media platforms is more than just determined by size and scale. Despite controversies, platforms like TikTok and X influence trends and conversations. For Threads, fostering a "friendly" conversation environment may or may not generate the same engagement. The platform primarily focuses on text-based posts, and whether this approach will lead to monetizable engagement remains to be determined.