'Open Special' Over? Thread Daily Active Users Down 20%

Usage Time Reduced by 'More Than 50%'
Establishing Thread's Unique Identity Remains a Challenge

The upward momentum of 'Threads,' the new social media (SNS) platform from Meta, the parent company of Instagram, appears to have slowed down.

According to global mobile data analytics platform Sensor Tower on the 13th (local time), the daily active users of Threads on the 11th and 12th decreased by about 20% compared to the 8th.

During this period, the average time users spent on the app also dropped by 50%, from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.

Similar figures were observed on the statistics site SimilarWeb.

The daily active users on the 10th decreased by 25% compared to the 7th.

The average time U.S. users spent on the Threads app also dropped from about 20 minutes on the 6th to just over 8 minutes on the 10th.

Anthony Bartolacci, Director at Sensor Tower, said, "Threads was outstanding in its first 72 hours after launch," but added, "The decline in daily active users suggests that Threads still faces a challenging journey to establish itself in users' daily social network routines."

David Carr, Senior Insights Manager at SimilarWeb, said, "(Users) were initially very interested in checking the Threads app, but not all users visit Threads as frequently as they do other social network apps."

Enjoyed the 'Twitter Rival' Special Status but Faces Identity Establishment Challenge

Accordingly, there are calls for Threads, which relies on Instagram, to carve out its own identity and persuade users to stay.

In Twitter's case, the massive participation of celebrities and politicians attracted users' attention by sharing issues in real-time across various fields.

Therefore, for Threads to establish itself as a social media platform, it must showcase its inherent appeal and prove that it is more valuable than a 'Twitter without Musk.'

Rich Greenfield, co-founder of media research firm LightShed Partners, pointed out, "How many people sign up is not that important. What matters is their engagement and interaction."

Meanwhile, Threads is a text-based SNS launched by Meta on the 5th, allowing users to post short texts within 500 characters or photos. Up to 5 photos can be attached, and videos can be up to 5 minutes long.

Threads surpassed 100 million global subscribers within five days of its launch on the 10th. In South Korea, the number of app installs exceeded 1 million as of the 11th.

Also, Threads, nicknamed the 'Twitter rival,' made headlines when many former and current Twitter employees reportedly joined the platform.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.