Has Threads-mania already started to unravel?

Meta’s Threads app is struggling to keep users engaged with the app after smashing records in its first week in existence, according to new data.

Research from SimilarWeb reckons daily active users on Android declined from 49 million on July 7 to 23.6 million a week later. That’s a fall of more than 50%.

The data gatherers say those people are spending less time within the Threads app too – quite dramatically. From 21 minutes per day to six minutes per day in the United States.

The iPhone 12 in excellent condition at an excellent price

If you prefer to shop refurbished, this deal on the iPhone 12 is a great opportunity worth checking out, especially with 50GB of data included.

• Mobiles
• £9.99 upfront
• £23.99 a month

View Deal

It seems that many folks spent some time on Threads to suss out the new Twitter alternative but perhaps weren’t convinced enough to stick around.

That is to be somewhat expected due to the curiosity, publicity, incredible dissatisfaction with Twitter and ease of signing-up through existing Instagram accounts and usernames. However, the drop off represented by these figures certainly isn’t good news for Meta as it seeks to capitalise on users’ desire to leave Twitter behind.

For context, according to the SimilarWeb, Twitter had around 109 million daily active users on Android the day Threads had 49m. It’s also worth bearing in mind the Threads app isn’t yet available in the EU – one of Meta’s biggest markets.

The report says: “There are some signs that Threads threads to eat directly into Twitter’s market share. In the first two full days that Threads was generally available, Thursday and Friday, web traffic to twitter.com was down 5% compared with the same days of the previous week and Android app usage, by time spent, was down 4.3%.

“In a bad sign for app user loyalty, Twitter user retention has been on the decline. On Android, the percentage of new users who are continuing to regularly use the Twitter app after 30 days has dropped from 19% in May 2022 to 16% in May 2023. In contrast, the loyalty of new Instagram users has held steady at about 40%.”

Are you enjoying Threads so much you’re sticking around? Or did you browse for a bit and decided to avoid the acquisition of another social media habit? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.