Since its record-breaking debut, user engagement on Meta’s Threads has witnessed a significant decline, according to the latest data from Sensor Tower and Similarweb (via CNBC).
Despite reporting a remarkable milestone of 100 million sign-ups within five days, the platform has experienced a drop-off in growth and engagement.
Sensor Tower’s managing director, Anthony Bartolacci, stated, “The Threads launch really did ‘break the internet,’ or at least the Sensor Tower models.” However, their data reveals a significant decrease in user engagement since the platform’s launch.
Daily active users on Tuesday and Wednesday were down by approximately 20% compared to Saturday, and the time spent by users dropped by 50%, from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.
Similarweb’s data also supports these trends, showing a decline of over 25% in daily active users for Threads users on Android phones globally between the peak on July 7 and Monday.
Usage time saw a similar drop, with U.S. users spending an average of just over 8 minutes on the app on July 10, compared to about 20 minutes on July 6.
Experts suggest that despite the backing of Meta and integration with Instagram, Threads faces an uphill battle to secure a permanent place in users’ social network routines. The platform needs a more compelling value proposition beyond being a Twitter alternative without Elon Musk.
While it’s still early days for Threads, Adam Mosseri, head of both Instagram and Threads at Meta, has made it clear that the platform will not prioritize news or politics, distinguishing it from Twitter.
Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, highlighted that Meta only needs a monthly usage by 1 in 4 Instagram users for Threads to reach the scale of Twitter.
The platform is still exploring its potential, and user interest may fluctuate as the community and topics offered are further explored.
