Rapid Ascent to 100M Users Sparks UX Revolution and Dwindling Traffic for Rivals
Like a bolt from the blue, the digit count on the user ticker soared to a whopping three.
Meta’s recent brainchild, Threads, celebrated its momentous milestone of reaching 100 million users yesterday, effortlessly breaking the record previously held by ChatGPT to become the most swiftly proliferating app in history.
It was a whirlwind rise to popularity; two million joined the Threads family within just two hours of launch. In a mere seven hours, the user count skyrocketed to 10 million. Flash forward to five days later, and the app has claimed almost a quarter of Twitter’s entire user base as its own.
But don’t be fooled into thinking Threads has peaked. On the contrary, according to Mark Zuckerberg himself, the colossal user influx has been largely driven by “organic demand.” Thus, the likelihood of user spikes escalating even further once a more aggressive promotional strategy rolls out is high.
For those nestled in the European Union, the curiosity is palpable, as the app still remains off-limits. However, the moment Threads opens its doors to the massive 330 million-plus EU Instagram users, an explosive surge in growth is anticipated.
In an interesting turn of events, the birth of Threads corresponded with a noticeable dip in Twitter’s traffic, falling by 5% in the initial two days of Threads’ complete availability.
Is this just a coincidence? Or should Twitter be anxious about the sudden downturn, which, at 11%, was even more dramatic than the corresponding period in 2022? Could this be a fleeting trend or a more permanent shift?
It’s worth shining a light on the fact that Instagram may have given Threads a leg up, notifying its extensive user base about the new kid on the block. This suggests that the growth of Threads may not be as “organic” as it appears.
However, it also demonstrates the power of user experience; Threads’ one-tap account creation process has done wonders to minimize friction. There’s a valuable lesson in user experience design here.
