Twitter rival 'Threads' lost half its active users in 7 days, says new report

Threads, developed by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, experienced a remarkable surge in popularity following its launch, amassing over 100 million users and earning the title of the fastest-growing app ever.

However, a recent report indicates that the app's usage has plummeted by 50 per cent since its initial surge.

According to data-tracking site Similar Web, the number of daily active users on Threads has dwindled from 49 million to 23.6 million within a week, indicating that individuals who hastily signed up for the platform are not returning regularly.

On its best day, July 7, Threads boasted over 49 million daily users on Android devices worldwide. By Friday, July 14, the app's active user base had shrunk to 23.6 million. The report also revealed that Threads' audience size amounts to approximately 22 per cent of Twitter's user base.

"Threads is missing many basic features and still needs to offer a compelling reason to switch from Twitter or start a new social media habit with Threads," stated the group responsible for the report.

Despite the data reflecting a decline in usage, Zuckerberg remains unfazed and expressed optimism regarding the platform's future.

"Early growth was off the charts, but more importantly, tens of millions of people now come back daily," he wrote. "That's way ahead of what we expected. The focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention. It'll take time to stabilize, but once we nail that, then we'll focus on growing the community. We've run this playbook many times (FB, IG, Stories, Reels, etc.), and I'm confident Threads is on a good path too."

The Similar Web report also noted a decline in user retention on Twitter.

Threads allows users to post text and links and engage with other users' messages through replies and reposts. The app enables users to import their existing follower lists and account names from Instagram, Meta's renowned photo and video-sharing app, which boasts over 2 billion users, including major brands, celebrities and creators.