Twitter vs Threads
The emergence of Meta’s platform – Threads, has positioned it as a formidable competitor to Twitter. Since its launch on Wednesday, July 5th, Threads has been breaking numerous records. In an impressive feat, it surpassed OpenAI by reaching 100 million active users in less than five days, making it the fastest social media platform to achieve this milestone. In contrast, OpenAI took around two months to reach the same mark, while Instagram itself took two and a half years after its 2010 launch.
However, Twitter has been facing technical issues since being acquired by Elon Musk last year, despite currently having 268 million monthly active users. In contrast, Meta owns some of today’s largest social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, which boast a significantly higher number of active users. For instance, Instagram alone has approximately 2.3 billion monthly active users. Consequently, even if a modest 12% of Instagram users start using Threads, it would easily surpass the current number of Threads users. The following graph shows number of Twitter users since last year:
Impact on Twitter
The growing popularity of Threads has the potential to impact Twitter’s revenue generation by attracting advertisers. Given that Threads is an Instagram-based application, Meta might leverage the user data collected from Instagram to enhance personalized advertising on Threads. Advertisers often seek new avenues to expand their outreach and connect with audiences on emerging platforms like Threads. It is worth noting that Meta’s advertisement revenue is over 20 times that of Twitter, which necessitates that Twitter devise strategies to compete effectively with Threads.
While Twitter currently maintains a significant position within the realm of social media platforms, serving as a popular channel for official communications, Threads presents users with a Facebook-like experience. Consequently, many individuals exhibit hesitancy in transitioning to Threads from Twitter. Twitter has solidified its presence in the community over the course of more than a decade, establishing itself as a prominent platform for the dissemination of important information worldwide. In contrast, Threads, being rooted in Instagram, combines elements of both Instagram and Twitter. Also according to Google, the interest in threads has plummeted since its launch. Therefore, Threads is not seeking to replace Twitter but rather carve out its own niche within the community, as there exists a subtle distinction in the usage and purpose of these platforms. It will be interesting to observe how users adapt to these platforms and how advertisers leverage the diverse market options they present.
