**Threads: Meta’s Twitter Killer Gaining Traction as Twitter’s Usage Declines**
Meta’s new Twitter competitor, Threads, is quickly living up to its name as it gains a following of over 100 million users in less than a week. This makes it one of the fastest-growing apps of all time, surpassing even ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Twitter’s usage is officially declining.
Twitter’s Declining Usage
According to Similarweb, in the first two days of Threads’ availability, web traffic to twitter.com dropped by 5% compared to the same days of the previous week. Compared to the same time last year, it was down by 11%. There was already an overall decline in Twitter’s usage before the launch of Threads, with a 4% year-over-year decrease in June, as reported by Similarweb.
Twitter’s Ranking Freefall
Cloudflare’s CEO, Matthew Prince, tweeted a graphic showing Twitter’s rapid descent in the rankings. Cloudflare’s ranking is a popularity metric that estimates the number of unique users accessing a domain over a period of time. At the beginning of the year, Twitter consistently ranked in the top 35 domains, but it started dropping in February and is now stuck in the 37 to 40 range, below websites like bing.com and Google Analytics.
The Rise of Threads
Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, believes that the launch of Threads came at an opportune time when Twitter users were frustrated with the platform. As a result, there has been a slowdown in Twitter usage, with users migrating to Threads. Enberg sees this as a major blow to Twitter, although she doesn’t view it as a death blow.
Threads’ Appeal and Meta’s Challenge
Users are attracted to the simplicity and “back-to-basics feel” of Threads. However, Meta’s challenge lies in retaining these users by continuously innovating to keep them engaged and active on the platform. Enberg believes that Meta needs to maintain momentum and find ways to monetize Threads while fixing Twitter’s ad business and innovating on the platform to keep users interested.
Differentiated Competition
There is a potential future where Threads becomes a lighter, content-oriented platform, while Twitter focuses on hard news and politics-based feeds. Both companies need to work on creating this differentiated competition. Elon Musk and Francesca Yaccarino, the leaders of Twitter, have a limited amount of time before Threads starts monetizing to address Twitter’s ad business and innovate on the platform to maintain user interest.
Meta’s Response and Twitter’s Outlook
In response to the news, a Meta spokesperson pointed to Mark Zuckerberg’s recent post on Threads, where he celebrates Threads reaching 100 million sign-ups in just five days, with mostly organic demand and minimal promotion. Twitter, on the other hand, provided an automatic reply without addressing the numbers.
Skepticism Toward Twitter
These numbers are the first concrete evidence of Twitter’s declining outlook. However, skepticism toward the app has been growing over the past year due to Elon Musk’s frequent changes, such as the addition of subscriptions and accessibility tiers.
Threads: A Successful Strategy
Meta’s strategy to attract a user base by making Threads an extension of Instagram seems to have worked. Threads could potentially be the “saner” version of Twitter that Meta envisions. It is worth noting that Threads has not yet launched in Europe due to EU privacy laws.
Elon Musk’s Reaction
Elon Musk appears to be taking the news lightly, stating on Twitter that Threads will provide more laughs than everything else combined, although there may be some negative aspects as well.
In conclusion, Threads is rapidly gaining popularity as Twitter’s usage declines. Its simplicity and back-to-basics appeal have attracted users, posing a challenge for Meta to retain and engage them. Twitter’s ranking has fallen, indicating a decline in its prominence. The competition between Threads and Twitter will require Meta to maintain momentum and innovation, while Twitter needs to address its ad business and platform to remain relevant.
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