Why You’re Addicted to Twitter but Not Facebook Threads – The Answer Will Surprise You!
In Brief
Elon Musk’s Twitter challenger Threads has experienced a 70% drop in daily active users and downloads since its launch.
The app’s basic functionality and limited post options have raised concerns about its potential and whether it should be built a presence.
Threads is catching on in emerging mobile markets, with India and Brazil accounted for a larger number of installs.
Elon Musk’s Twitter challenger Threads has experienced a decline in daily active user count and downloads since its launch, with Sensor Tower reporting a 70% drop in daily active users. Data.ai also reports a significant slowdown in Threads downloads, and various pundits have predicted that Meta’s real-time news app is destined for failure. The numbers raise legitimate concerns about Threads’ potential and whether it should be built a presence in the app.
The app is still basic, with limited functionality and options for posting. A key addition will be a ‘Following’ feed, which will help users get a stream of content from only the profiles they’ve chosen to follow, similar to Twitter. However, this will have a downside, as it will have more limited post exposure, which could see per post engagement stats decline.
There is no desktop app or account switching functionality, making it more cumbersome for social media managers to navigate. This could lead to some users deciding to leave the app for now. However, once these functionalities are added, Threads is expected to gain traction once again.
117 million people have created a Threads profile, which equates to almost half of Twitter’s active user base. This reflects significant interest in a competitor platform that’s functional, easy to use, and provides a similar experience to what Twitter either does or once did. Elon Musk’s polarizing approach has alienated many Twitter users, and the sheer scale of people signing up for Threads reflects this.
The interest of celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile users is also significant, as they are likely to bring their audiences with them. While Twitter’s overall user count is far lower than Facebook, Twitter has remained a relevant platform due to its popularity among news breakers and reporters. Musk’s repeated attacks on mainstream media have left many looking for another outlet, and that could see them drift to Threads, with many already posting there more often than they’re tweeting.
Musk’s coming Twitter re-brand, which will see the app become ‘X’ instead, further ripe for disruption. The number of people registered an interest in Threads bodes well for its future potential.
Threads is catching on in emerging mobile markets, where downloads are still growing. The US is only its third-largest market, but India and Brazil accounted for a larger number of installs, at 60.1 million (32.6%) and 40.2 million (21.8%), respectively. If Threads gains traction in these regions, it could become the key real-time app for these users, fueling expanded growth and bringing more users to the platform.
While recent numbers suggest interest is already waning, it feels more like a lull before the next big push from Threads, either through the introduction of new features or from the next wave of Twitter users pushed away by Musk’s changes. Elon’s re-brand strategy is particularly risky at this time, but the opportunity to compete with Twitter remains wide open, and the early interest in Threads shows that it can compete.
While giants like Twitter remain actively used, certain platforms like Facebook Threads and Clubhouse are encountering dwindling user interactions. With an estimated user base of 2-3 billion across Facebook products, this disparity prompts an essential question for B2C product creators: what fosters enduring user engagement?
Central to this discourse is a seemingly simple yet intricate concept – habit formation. Establishing habits among users is a meticulous endeavor, one that transcends mere motivation and delves into the realm of triggers. When users perceive clear triggers that resonate with their daily routines, they are more inclined to interact with an application repeatedly. Contrarily, assuming that users will seamlessly adapt to a new platform without any compelling reason might be an oversimplification.
Take, for instance, a food tracking app. The evident trigger here is the act of consuming food. If a user associates meal times with logging into this app, especially if the association occurs 10-20 times, there’s a substantial likelihood that this behaviour will solidify into a habit. Strategies such as gamification and reward systems can further reinforce this association. However, habit formation is not merely about frequent interactions but rather about creating meaningful engagement.
This brings us to the predicament of Facebook threads. The underlying strategy seemed to leverage the habitual user engagement seen on platforms like Twitter. However, transplanting one platform’s user habits to another is a nuanced task. It is comparable in complexity to cultivating new habits. The years that users spent on Twitter, sharing and consuming content in varied contexts, established a profound habit that isn’t easily replicated elsewhere. It’s this ingrained behavior that makes certain platforms more valuable to users than others.
When Facebook incorporated platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, it was not just procuring a user base; it was assimilating established user habits. Venturing into new platforms requires an understanding that building from the ground up is a multifaceted process. It mandates not just innovative design and user-friendly interfaces but also an in-depth comprehension of user behaviour and habits.
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About The Author
Damir is the team leader, product manager, and editor at Metaverse Post, covering topics such as AI/ML, AGI, LLMs, Metaverse, and Web3-related fields. His articles attract a massive audience of over a million users every month. He appears to be an expert with 10 years of experience in SEO and digital marketing. Damir has been mentioned in Mashable, Wired, Cointelegraph, The New Yorker, Inside.com, Entrepreneur, BeInCrypto, and other publications. He travels between the UAE, Turkey, Russia, and the CIS as a digital nomad. Damir earned a bachelor's degree in physics, which he believes has given him the critical thinking skills needed to be successful in the ever-changing landscape of the internet.
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Damir is the team leader, product manager, and editor at Metaverse Post, covering topics such as AI/ML, AGI, LLMs, Metaverse, and Web3-related fields. His articles attract a massive audience of over a million users every month. He appears to be an expert with 10 years of experience in SEO and digital marketing. Damir has been mentioned in Mashable, Wired, Cointelegraph, The New Yorker, Inside.com, Entrepreneur, BeInCrypto, and other publications. He travels between the UAE, Turkey, Russia, and the CIS as a digital nomad. Damir earned a bachelor's degree in physics, which he believes has given him the critical thinking skills needed to be successful in the ever-changing landscape of the internet.
