Simon Hunt

Why Threads is failing to win over Twitter users

Elon Musk (Credit: Getty images)

When Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta released Threads earlier this month, it looked to be the biggest threat to Twitter in the app’s 17-year history. Over 100 million people signed up within days, a lightning-fast adoption rate that made ChatGPT’s four-week timescale to hit the same milestone seem sluggish. But that threat now appears to be rapidly tailing off.

The number of daily active users on the text-based social media app has more than halved from 49 million to 23.6 million in a week, according to an analysis by Similarweb. Last Friday, the number of people using Threads dipped to around 22 per cent of Twitter’s audience, down from its peak a week before of 45 per cent. Is Zuck in danger of losing his fight with Twitter’s owner Elon Musk already?

Encouraging people to switch products requires having a better offering. This logic applies in much the same way as when buying a new car, swapping phone provider or changing TV subscription.

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