Zuckerberg Says That Threads is Now Closing in on 100 Million Users

Well, that is something.

In today’s Q3 earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a fast note concerning the growth of Threads to this point, and what he sees because the potential for the Twitter-like app.

Here’s Zuckerberg’s full summary:

“I need to provide a fast update on Threads. We’re three months in now, and I’m very joyful with the trajectory. There are slightly below 100 million monthly actives at this point, and we’re now attending to the purpose where we’re going to be specializing in growing the community further. From what we are able to tell, people find it irresistible up to now. I’ve thought for a very long time that there needs to be a billion-person public conversations app that is a bit more positive, and I feel that if we keep at this for a couple of more years then I feel now we have a great likelihood of achieving our vision there.”

A billion users. For a Twitter-like app.

For context, Twitter, now often called “X”, currently has around 253 million every day actives, and 550 million monthly lively users, which is by far its highest ever usage rate.

Or no less than, that’s what X owner and CTO Elon Musk, and CEO Linda Yaccarino, have reported. But newer third party evaluation has actually pointed to a big downturn in X usage, as more people shift their attentions away from the app, in light of Musk’s changes in approach.

In line with evaluation from Apptopia, which tracks mobile app engagement across greater than 100,000 user devices, X currently has around 121 million every day lively users, after suffering significant losses in consequence of its recent name change.

That’s every day users, not monthly, so it’s not like Threads is true on its tail as yet. But in case you extrapolate the info, factoring within the average variation between every day and monthly lively users of other social apps, X would currently have around 223 million monthly actives, not the 550 million reported by the platform itself.

Now, that’s a giant variation, and we don’t have full, official data to substantiate the figures reported by Apptopia, as only X would have full access. But given the scope of knowledge that Apptopia has available, it will suggest that X usage is now significantly lower than it had been, while Threads closes in on its first 100 million actives.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has reiterated the news, and given his own statement on the app’s future plans:

“We appreciate the vote of confidence, but now we have lots more to do and must be careful to not be too confident. I’m hoping we are able to land support for Europe, early Fediverse progress, higher Instagram integrations, and trends in the subsequent few months. It’ll be telling to see if these construct much more momentum.”

Threads downloads have increased in recent weeks, following X’s decision to change how link previews are displayed, and the war in Israel, which has seen many users seeking to follow real time updates.

There are numerous concerns that X’s latest approach to content moderation, which is more reliant on crowd-sourced fact-checking, via Community Notes, is allowing more mis- and disinformation to permeate within the app, while the changes to how content is displayed, with paying users getting priority, has also irked many regular readers.

Mix that with Elon’s ongoing criticisms of journalists and “mainstream media” publications, and it does seem that Threads’ window of opportunity has expanded, with more influential users now seeking to distance themselves from the previous Twitter app.

It’ll be interesting to see how that evolves, and whether Threads can gain more momentum in consequence.

But 100 million users is important. If Threads can hold even that audience, it’s going to likely establish its own area of interest.