Hi everybody and welcome to another episode of the Elon Musk
Podcast where we dissect the complexity of the technology
landscape today with a special focus on Meta's newest social
media venture, Threads. The application, toted as a
Twitter killer, set a record-breaking pace by amassing
an oppressive 100 million downloads within just a few days
of its US launch on July 5th. Yet it's been a roller coaster
of a ride for Threads. Despite its initial success, it
quickly stumbled. And started declining in user
engagement in a slew of other challenges.
Now we delve into what has been an extraordinary week for
threads, from regulatory hurdles barring its availability in the
European Union to user complaints about the lack of a
chronological feed, which together contributed to a sharp
downturn in user activity and time spent on the app.
And on the flip side, we explore Meta's response and what the
future might hold for the ambitious project and after the
break. We'll dive deep into the factors
that led to threads dramatic rise and fall, and what it
signifies for the larger tech ecosystem.
So stay tuned and we'll be right back with more after this
commercial break. Welcome back, Meta, the tech
giant formerly knows in his Facebook has recently seen a
sharp downturn engagement on its newest social media platform,
Threads. Despite achieving an impressive
user base of 100 million within a few days of its launch,
according to data provided by NBC News Sensor Tower in Similar
Web, the ambitious project, designed as a direct competitor
to Twitter, hit the ground running when it launched in the
United States on July 5th. Now, within a week of its debut,
user engagement had noticeably plummeted.
An expert suggests that the botch roll out and met his
attempt to repackage a familiar concept.
May have inadvertently damaged the app's chances of longterm
success. The analytics from Sensor Tower
indicated 20% decrease in daily active users between Saturn and
the subsequent Tuesday and Wednesday, mere few days apart.
And on top of that, the average time spent on the platform
halved, going from 20 minutes to about 10 minutes.
Now. Similar webs data painted an
even starker picture. Recording a 25% drop in daily
active users from its peak on July 7th to the following
Monday, all average usage time nose dived over 50% from 20
minutes to under 8 minutes. Now despite these concerning
figures, Meta spokesperson sought to reassure skeptics in
an e-mail to Gizmodo expressing the company's excitement over
threads initial success stating while it's early days were
excited about the initial success of Threads.
Which has surpassed our expectations.
We launched the app just over a week ago and our focus now is on
ensuring stable performance, delivering new features and
continuing to improve the experience in the coming months.
Now further complicating the platform's debut is the fact
that Threads is currently unavailable in the European
Union due to regulatory concerns.
This has not stopped eager users from attempting to gain access
via VPN's, only to encounter difficulties with Notifications
content. And profiles not loading
correctly and in response Meta has now started blocking EU
users from accessing threads via VPN.
According to reports from Engadget.
Meta stressed that the EU is an important market, but confirmed
that extra measures were being taken to restrict users in the
region from accessing the platform.
Nevertheless, Metas Threads has seen an unprecedented influx of
users. The record setting pace of
downloads outstripped even the fastest growing apps in history.
Leaving platforms such as Chant, GBT, and The Dust.
Unfortunately, this initial success was swiftly marred by
several hiccups. Primarily, users have reported
dissatisfaction with the feed on the app, and despite the
convenient feature of porting Instagram followers to Threads,
users found their feed cluttered with seemingly random posts from
celebrities, brands, and influencers.
This apparent lack of control over the feed and the overly
complex algorithm. To prioritize the blend of
followed and recommended content over a straightforward
chronological timeline spurred widespread ridicule across the
digital sphere and may have been the catalyst for the sharp drop
in user engagement. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision for
threads as an apolitical, friendly place has also come
under scrutiny, though, especially since deleting
threads necessitates the removal of a user's entire Instagram
account, an aspect that has not gone down well with a bunch of
users. Furthermore, the lack of a
desktop client it launched was another glaring omission that
may have contributed to the steep fall in usage time.
The introduction of a desktop client potentially bolster the
amount of time users spend on threads.
Now, despite these setbacks though, there is a hope yet for
threads. Recent improvements to the apps
algorithm have begun to yield a more personalized and relevant
feed for users. Nevertheless, the damage has
already been done, the disappointing initial user
experience. Might have been enough to deter
a significant portion of its user base permanently, and even
though Threads has accrued A formidable initial user base,
the rushed launch and subsequent lackluster user experience may
have critically hampered its potential.
An inferior product, regardless of a seemingly friendly user
base and attractive design can ill afford to compete with an
even dwindling Twitter. It remains to be Seed of Meta's
efforts to rectify these issues can pave the way for Threads
long term success. Threads has made a formidable
entry into the social media landscape, positioning itself as
a formidable challenger to Elon Musk's Twitter, which reported
approximately 240 million monetizable daily active users
as of July. And according to the most recent
public filing, prior to Musk's acquisition in 2022, those
people were monetized. Now, several data tracking
platforms have recorded a decline in Twitter's traffic in
recent months. Similar web reported an 11% year
over year drop in Twitter traffic on July 6th and 7th of
2023. Now Arc Invest, a longstanding
supporter of Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned in a Monday note that
Threads could become a powerful competitor to Twitter.
The firm pointed not only to the rapid growth of Threads user
base, but also it's considerable engagement with the platform
reporting approximately 95 million threads, nearly
200,000,000 likes. The first day alone now, they
said. Leveraging Instagrams,
infrastructure and social graphs with a sleek interface and hints
of decentralization at a time when Twitter was being
criticized for limiting activity to eat out and eliminate bots,
can prove to be a smart marketing entry strategy.
Now, they also said, while Meta deserves praise for the most
successful online platform launch in history.
Only time will reveal if Threads will replicate Stories, victory
over Snapchat, or suffer Real's fate as a secondary player to
TikTok. I want to say thank you so much
for listening to the show today. If you enjoyed it, please take a
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So, so much, so thank you for doing that.
And as always, please take care of yourself and each other and I
will see you in the next one.