Twitter and Meta Platforms have been laid on an extremely magnified line of blazing limelight ever since an eristic CEO was cherry-picked for the former and the latter is allegedly vying to take liberties with a Twitter alternative with the debut of the Meta Threads app.
Instagram Threads was launched as Meta’s text-based social network on 5th July 2023 and since has gained an overwhelming reception. After surpassing 100 million sign-ups of Instagram Threads users within just 5 days of its debut, analysts believe that the blue birdie platform is ‘tanking’ in the wake of Meta’s Twitter rival. The evidence? Twitter’s user traffic has portrayed all the hallmarks of slowing down.
Instagram Threads App Vandalizes Twitter’s User Traffic
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince had tweeted a screenshot that heralded the analytics, a DNS data graph of Twitter’s user traffic – it was definitely beginning to bite the dust. The downward spiral that began at the start of July had hit its lowest-ever point in the last six months.
Other specialists also noted that the web traffic to Twitter was down by 5 percent in the first two days after Meta Threads launched, and was down 11 percent compared to the same time in 2022.
Meta executives are touting Threads as a positive ‘public square’ for communities that could never in a true sense grapple with Twitter. And Instagram-Threads users seem to be rolling along the board.
“Threads reached 100 million sign-ups over the weekend! That’s mostly organic demand and we haven’t even started many promotions yet. Can’t believe it’s been only 5 days!”
– Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta Platforms
Twitter alternative Threads, earned the benchmark of being the most rapidly downloaded app ever, skimming along 30 million users within 16 hours of its launch. It even superseded OpenAI’s viral generative AI bot ChatGPT’s milestone of the time limit for scoring 100 million users.
But Thread users are predominantly ascribed to the existing social networking platform – Instagram users.
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Twitter’s controversial CEO Elon Musk has already threatened to sue Threads over ‘unlawful misappropriation’ of confidential trade information. Adding fuel to the fire is Musk and Zuckerberg’s feud – they have been mocking each other and the feud has now turned derogatory.
Meta Threads App: Is Twitter’s Alternative Worth The Privacy Risk?
Instagram Thread users can sign up with their prevailing handles and can retain most of their followers as others sign up for the app. Many netizens have raised privacy concerns, owing to Zuckerberg’s infamous trial that accused him of collecting personal data to profile people.
With a lot of room to grow, it is interesting to note that Instagram Threads has not yet been released in Europe. With some regulatory complexity (aka data protection rules) in the way, if Threads wants to solidify its position as a strong Twitter alternative, it will need to be able to retain its user base. Twitter’s daily monetizable active users are reportedly nearly 238 million.
What Data Does Instagram Threads Collect?
As per the privacy label, the data linked to you is collected by Threads. The long list includes location, health and fitness information, ‘sensitive information’, browsing and search history, and contact information such as physical address, phone number, and email address.
This data collected is used for personalizing advertisements. The chances of ads appearing on Threads are imminent.
“While there hasn’t been any mention of monetization or ads on the platform just yet, we cannot forget that this is Meta after all.”
Another important factor to know is that if you delete Threads, you also have to delete your Instagram account. Deactivating Threads is possible, but this makes it easier for Meta to track even from across services.
Mark Zuckerberg is renowned for disallowing a major player to succeed in the social media sector, having notoriously acquired Instagram and WhatsApp after Facebook. The popular Metaverse platform beguiled only 38 daily users, earning a morose $470 in total revenue. Maybe the failure of Metaverse which was valued at $13 trillion in 2021 prompted Zuckerberg to release Threads to steal the spotlight away from Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover boosted the social media platform’s name, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
