Skip to main content

Threads has lost half its users, according to Meta chief Zuckerberg

Meta’s Threads app looks set for an uphill climb if it’s ever to take the microblogging crown from Twitter, which is currently being rebranded as X.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told employees that despite its impressive start in early July when around 100 million people activated a Threads account in its first five days of availability, more than half of those users have stopped checking in.

Recommended Videos

The revelation came in a call to employees that was heard by Reuters.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around,” Zuckerberg said in the call, adding: “We’re not there yet.”

The CEO didn’t seem too perturbed, however, describing the fall in user numbers as “normal” and saying that he believed Threads’ base will grow as the app adds new features, which could include a desktop version and the ability to search the platform’s content.

Threads got off to a flying start for two main reasons. First, there was a lot of buzz around the app just prior to launch. This created a high level of expectation among users of Twitter who’ve been unhappy with the way Elon Musk has been tampering with the platform since buying the company for $44 billion in October 2022.

And second, Threads has tight integration with Instagram — another Meta app with well over a billion users — making it easy for people to set up a Threads account, get followers, and find other accounts to follow.

Threads bore a striking resemblance to Twitter at launch, indeed, a lawyer acting on behalf of Musk’s business threatened to sue Meta for creating a “copycat” product. But at the start, Threads was pretty bare bones, lacking a number of features that you’d expect to see with such an app. Since then, however, its development team has been working to improve Threads’ usability. Just last week, for example, it added a Following feed that shows posts only from people you follow, offering users another option alongside the existing algorithmic feed.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Zuckerberg denies secret deal with Trump for Facebook freedom
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied rumors of a secret deal that allowed controversial posts by President Donald Trump to remain on the platform.

Zuckerberg, who has recently become more critical of the Trump administration, addressed the rumors of a clandestine deal in an interview with Axios.

Read more
Zuckerberg: Facebook wouldn’t have fact-checked Trump
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking on a panel at the Paley Center for Media

As President Donald Trump lashes out at Twitter for fact-checking two of his tweets and prepares an executive order targeting social media companies, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has weighed in — on Trump's side.

In an interview with Fox News set to air Thursday, May 28, Zuckerberg said that his social media company has "a different policy than Twitter on this."
“I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth," Zuckerberg told The Five co-host Dana Perino. "I think in general private companies — especially these platform companies — shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.”
Trump and many Republicans have criticized Twitter over the fact-check messages on Trump's tweets about mail-in voting, which alerted users to "get the facts" after Trump made an unsubstantiated claim that mail-in voting would lead to rampant voter fraud. Trump accused Twitter of censoring him and other conservative voices and vowed to take action against social media companies.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more