By the Numbers: The state of Threads one year later

Threads was thrust into the world on July 5, 2023. Some might suggest it was released as a half-baked, opportunistic knee-jerk move by Meta, with bare-bones features that were clearly inspired by old-school Twitter.

But opportunity knocked when X began throttling the number of posts users could see in an attempt to battle bots. Threads was released early and immediately raked in users: 30 million users signed up in the first day. In five days, it surpassed 100 million users — the fastest growing app in history.

A week before its one-year anniversary, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads has surpassed 175 million monthly active users.

But how do those numbers stack up against its major rival X? And what do they mean for communicators searching for the best places to share their messages?

Here’s what you need to know.

X vs. Threads

Threads was designed to fill the text-based microblogging space that Twitter had pioneered until Elon Musk took over the platform and made a series of unpopular changes, including gutting the trust and safety team, reinstating many banned members and more.

So how well has it taken on Goliath?

It still has a long way to go.

Data obtained by The Financial Times indicates that X has 251 million daily active users, far outstripping Threads. Musk has publicly stated that X has about 600 million monthly active users, and added that “about half of which use the platform every day,” which is more-or-less in line with 251 million daily active users.

The problem for X at this stage is that its growth is essentially flat; year-over-year, the platform has only seen 1.6% user growth, according to The Financial Times. That’s a sharp contrast to the double-digit growth that Twitter saw before Musk purchased the app in fall 2022.

Obviously, growth is harder when you already have more than half a billion users. And Threads has an ace in the hole that X lacks: its connection to Instagram. Threads users can sign up for the app with their existing Instagram credentials and post content directly from one account to the next. The Financial Times reports that about two-thirds of Threads’ traffic comes from its sister app, which boasts a whopping 2 billion monthly active users.

Monthly active users vs. daily active users

Think of activities you do once a month. Changing your furnace filter, deep cleaning your fridge, paying your rent. They’re familiar, but perhaps not part of your regular routine.

That’s how the vast majority of users experience Threads. They sign in only occasionally, poke their heads around and disappear.

Only 38 million people use Threads at least once a day, according to data from Sensor Tower and reported by The Financial Times.

So while that topline 175 million may sound impressive, only 21% of users are actually using the site on a daily basis, with early adoption perhaps encouraged by how easily users could sign up with preexisting Instagram accounts. Now, some people may be using it every other day; some might be using it just once a month. But it’s still not part of a daily habit for most users.

What about other contenders?

As for the other “Twitter killer” apps that rose to quasi-prominence after the Musk acquisition, none have managed to reach anywhere near Threads’ popularity.

• BlueSky: 3 million monthly active users.
• Mastodon: 861,000 monthly active users.
• Spill: 200,000 monthly active users as of Nov. 2023.

So even though Threads may still significantly lag X, it’s lightyears ahead of any of the upstarts without the massive backing of Meta.

Who’s on Threads?

There are a significant number of users on Threads, but who are they?

Arguably the biggest get for the fledgling platform is Taylor Swift, who joined in April to promote her new album. Even Mark Zuckerberg excitedly replied to the star with a song reference.

But after posting three promotional threads, Swift hasn’t used the platform since April, despite still posting regularly on Instagram.

Joe Biden is on the platform, and active. But the content is beat-for-beat the same as on Instagram.

Major brands like Wendy’s are on the platform, with the fast-food shop posting content unique from its other platforms. Other major social players like Duolingo, Nike and National Geographic are also still actively using the platform. While it may not have the critical mass of users other platforms have, it’s far from a ghost town.

The users on Threads are more likely to be male (58%) and under the age of 34 (52%), according to SimilarWeb. The bottom line

No true rival to X has yet emerged, but Threads is the biggest out there today. It continues to grow while X has fallen stagnant, yet still retains a huge advantage in terms of total users.

Is it the right platform for you? Maybe. If you’re scared off by X’s brand safety issues but like the text-based focus, it may be worth some time. Or if you already have a large Instagram following, it’s little work to set up a profile and port content over and reach a different audience subset.

We’ll see where Threads lands on its two-year anniversary.

Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Daily. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.