One year and 175 million users later, Threads is still not a Twitter ‘killer’

Threads

The timing was perhaps impeccable. Chaos was reigning supreme at Elon Musk’s X — or was it called Twitter then? — with who gets the blue tick, grey tick or whatever tick. Mark Zuckerberg knows the social media game — and knows it well — and launched a new app called Threads. Threads’ debut was certainly a splashy one, grabbing 30 million users in a single day. 100 million was attained soon after and things looked rosy.

Yet, a year later after its debut it hasn’t really dethroned Twitter from mainstream conversation nor in terms of numbers. For a social media app, Threads hasn’t really become part of the social fabric in the digital world. A lot of it is down to the way Meta and Zuckerberg have approached the app.

Musk wants X to be the digital town square where people come, share, discuss and do whatnot. Threads wanted to be a vibrant “public square” and yet hasn’t really mastered the art of conversation. The app, built on Instagram's backbone, somehow seems to lack its parent's polish and some key features.

Let's be honest, 175 million users isn't a number that you can really scoff at. And that too in just 12 months. However, one year on, Threads seems to be grappling with an identity crisis. Meta insists it's not a Twitter clone, but a "less angry" space for Instagram users. Here's where things get messy.

For all its flaws and shortcomings, X remains a solid source for news. You get to know what’s happening in the world. Even though the algorithm is quite messed up in terms of what appears on your feed and people complain about random posts showing up, it gets the news part right.

Threads doesn’t really do it well as the “For You” feed is all over the place. It is like a news app that delivers yesterday's headlines tomorrow. It surfaces bizarre personal stories from strangers — something X is guilt of as well at times — and seems to have a soft spot for emotional oversharing.

What makes it even less appealing is that Meta seems terrified of anything "potentially sensitive." Political discourse is a no go area for Threads. But then if you really want to become a “public square”, can you stay away from sensitive topics. Nobody wants an echo chamber on social media but this extremely cautious approach might stifle the very public square vibe Zuckerberg and co. are aiming for.

We get it why Meta used Instagram’s codebase for Threads. It helped in a swift launch, built a familiar look and feel and it looked comfortable. People are averse to change and a new layout takes time to gain acceptance and Threads didn’t face that challenge. But having an Instagram account to have a Threads account feels very forced. There might be — actually there are — people who don’t want to be on Instagram. At the end of the day, the two apps are built for serving different purposes. Meta perhaps doesn’t realise that there could be people who aren’t interested in being both on Instagram and Threads. Meta should look to bring Threads out of Instagram’s ‘reelsy’ shadow.

Meta may be considering "Threads-only accounts" to break free from Instagram's shadow.  Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and Threads, has hinted that Meta is working on making the latter independent. Zuckerberg has ambitious goal of Threads becoming a billion user app.

At the moment, Threads is an ad-free platform but won’t be for too long as it’s all about the money. Threads isn’t in the territory of a good idea gone meh but things need to change fast and for the better if it wants to become more of a public square and less of a square peg in a round hole.