Mark Zuckerberg's Threads vs Elon Musk's X: The great challenge

As Meta’s Threads marked its first anniversary on July 6, the platform's journey has been a mixed bag. Launched with the ambitious goal of rivalling Twitter, now rebranded as X, Threads has seen significant user engagement but hasn't quite matched its competitor's engagement with users or vibrancy. Despite amassing nearly 200 million monthly active users (MAUs), Threads' journey reveals a complex narrative, especially in a key market like India.

“We're making steady progress towards building what looks like it’s going to be another major social app. We're seeing deeper engagement,” Mark Zuckerberg said during the company's earnings call on July 31.

Threads has positioned itself as the closest global alternative to X, boasting nearly one-third of X's 600 million active users in a year. Although Threads has doubled its user base from 100 million to almost 200 million monthly active users since October 2023, it is yet to be determined whether Threads is the app which throws people into social media saturation or it becomes a true rival to X.

India has been a testing ground for new digital products. Meta has previously rolled out products like Facebook Lite, WhatsApp Pay, and Instagram Reels here before making them available globally. Similarly, Threads was introduced with much fanfare.

“Our outlook on Threads has always been longer term…which is that we launch a product, we see traction, we learn from it, and we build features that users want. That remains the journey here,” says Sandhya Devanathan, vice president and managing director of Meta India.

The initial excitement around Threads was short-lived for many. Data from SimilarWeb indicates a sharp decline in user engagement soon after launch, with the number of users plummeting by 50% within just 24 hours and falling to merely 10% of the initial user base by the end of the month. This highlights a fleeting curiosity among users, followed by a significant drop in sustained interest.

Threads’ millions of monthly active users largely come from traffic generated by Meta's other apps. Instagram users, for instance, can't scroll without encountering frequent reminders about Threads, keeping it constantly in sight.

Despite these challenges, Threads has shown resilience, particularly in India. “India is one of the countries with the highest number of activations on Threads,” says Devanathan while adding they had a whole bunch of celebrities such as MS Dhoni recently join the platform and a lot of public figures did their first Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Threads. This indicates that while global traction may have fluctuated, the platform found a more stable user base in India.

In fact, India has been one of the most active thread users in the last one year. Meta has launched product features like topic tags – the community on Threads come together and they tag each other on various subjects. Globally, more than 50 million tags have been created till date while they saw a huge traction from India. Furthermore, the company saw organic engagement from 200 creators during events like the IPL and ICC.

Yet, the broader question remains: Does the world need another social media platform? Devanathan believes that different platforms serve varied purposes and social media saturation has not yet hit. “People choose platforms based on what they'd like to do...if you think about Threads, it's a lot more public, a lot more short and pithy,” she adds. She elaborates on the distinct roles of Meta's platforms, each catering to different aspects of user behaviour and preferences. “We want to enable that freedom of choice for our users. And that's how we think about our platforms and how we build them."

Threads has carved out a niche for itself by focusing on short, public posts, distinguishing itself from the more visual Instagram and the community-driven Facebook. This strategy seems to resonate with a significant number of users, even if it hasn't achieved the same level of global engagement as X.