Instagram's Threads facing uphill battle against Twitter as daily active users plummet by 70%

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Instagram's Threads facing uphill battle against Twitter as daily active users plummet by 70%

Twitter boasts around 200 million daily active users, highlighting the substantial gap Threads needs to bridge

Threads vs Twitter

Instagram's attempt to compete with Twitter through its app "Threads" seems to be facing significant challenges, as it has reportedly experienced a sharp decline in user engagement. Despite Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's claims that "10s of millions of people come back daily" to Threads, recent data suggests otherwise. The number of daily active users on the app has dropped for the second consecutive week, now standing at 13 million, according to Wall Street Journal. This represents a staggering 70 per cent decline from its peak in early July.

In comparison, Twitter boasts around 200 million daily active users, highlighting the substantial gap Threads needs to bridge to be a formidable competitor in the social media space. The plummeting user engagement has raised concerns within Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram, as they initially saw a surge in sign-ups but failed to sustain user interest over time.

Despite the alarming downward trend, Meta executives appear to remain optimistic and claim they are actively working on introducing additional features to revitalise the app. However, the steep decline in user engagement suggests that Threads needs more than just minor tweaks; it requires substantial Twitter-like features to reinvigorate its appeal.

Reports indicate that Threads' daily usage has experienced a significant decline, with users now spending only 10 minutes on the app, compared to the initial 20 minutes. Such a drastic drop in user activity has raised eyebrows among industry experts, who have started labelling Threads as the "Twitter killer" that failed to live up to its name.

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Threads managed to achieve a milestone of 150 million user sign-ups last week, despite its usage suffering. Meta launched the app on July 5 for both iOS and Android users in 100 countries, quickly propelling it to become one of the top free apps on the App Store.

In terms of global popularity, Threads has seen the most significant adoption in specific markets. India stands out as the leading market for the app, accounting for approximately 32 per cent of its total downloads. Following India is Brazil, contributing to approximately 22 per cent of Threads' installations, and the US, representing nearly 16 per cent of the overall downloads.