Threads’ user engagement falters and may impact advertising prospects

Jeremy Goldman, Senior Director of Marketing, Retail and Tech Briefings at Insider Intelligence, says Threads has struggled to maintain daily active users after a burst of sign-ups that saw it reach 100-million users in its first five days of operation.

“Sensor Tower data revealed a 20% drop in daily active users and a 50% decline in time spent on the app one week post-launch. Similarweb reported a 25% drop in daily active users and a more than 50% decrease in app usage time,” Goldman writes.

Threads unable to sign up new users in the EU

He adds that Threads’ situation is being exacerbated by it being unable to sign up users in the European Union – an area with more than 700-million people – because of data-protection laws.

“This change in user behaviour emphasises the difficulties new platforms face in retaining interest once the initial curiosity subsides,” Goldman says.

“Threads faces a challenging journey to become an integral part of users’ social media – which Meta needs if it’s going to turn its new app into its latest advertising platform.”

This highlights the critical challenge of user retention in the fast-paced world of social media.

But Goldman notes that Threads seems to have lured some engagement from Twitter, with a 5% decrease in Twitter’s web traffic during Threads’ initial peak-activity period.

“That reduction in traffic could cost Twitter nearly US$75-million in worldwide advertising revenues this year and $140-million in 2024, based on our latest forecast,” he notes.

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