SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 05: In this photo illustration, the Threads logo is displayed on a … [+]
It’s okay to admit defeat, especially when something is not working out.
The Twitter-clone from Meta known as Threads has seen a steady decline in active users, and the recent browser version hasn’t helped much. According to SimilarWeb, the Threads app saw a modest gain when the browser version became available, but it appears as though the app users simply switched over to check out Threads.net. App usage declined by about 13% while the browser version bumped up by around the same amount (or 133,000 unique users) after launch.
Meanwhile, the daily active user count hovers around only 1.1 million these days, according to a MarketWatch report. That’s a sharp decline even from July, when about 3.4 million people were using the app.
This is all after the free-fall from the summer when several reports at the time indicated that Threads lost about 80% of its users. AdWeek noted that major brands like Wendy’s and Anthropologie stopped posting after the sudden decline.
I will be honest here: I forgot all about Threads for a while. I just don’t have the willpower or the bandwidth to maintain yet another social media app, given the fact that I’m already on all of the popular platforms and treading water on a few (like X, formerly known as Twitter).
Few of us can keep up with all of these apps. If you’re like me, you have 50 apps installed on your phone or more but use the same handful over and over again. There’s only so many messaging apps I can use during the day, and social media is even worse.
One reason is the time investment. I can message friends overseas using the WhatsApp in a few seconds. If I jump on Threads, I have to think about what I want to say. It has to be clever or different from what I just posted on Instagram or Facebook. Worse yet, only a few hundred people will see my Threads post, so why bother? It’s an incredibly overused phrase, but a rising tide lifts all boats. It seems as though, according to the reports, that Threads is a sinking ship and has run aground.
If it was gaining in popularity, I’d notice my boat was getting some lift — some momentum. I’d be excited to see all of the comments on a post, especially one that is sort of funny. Threads feels like the party has ended before it even started. That kills all incentive for those of us who are already overloaded with too many apps, too much micromanagement, and not enough return on the time investment required.
Recent announcements about both Meta and X considering subscription fees make me wonder if these companies are even slightly aware of how much time we spend posting and finding followers already.
If anything, Threads should start paying us to use the app (as if that will happen).
What will work? As always, it’s innovation and value. Do something radically new. Make us want to use the app even though it takes time. Invent a brilliant new feature we can’t ignore. Ironically, both X and Threads are in the same boat (to keep using a bad analogy). There’s nothing new about either app, and we’re losing interest. If an app doesn’t offer something valuable and novel, it will just sit idle on our phones.
It’s then just a matter of time before we finally notice the app and delete it once and forever.
