Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is closing in on Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) as the social media platform Threads, launched two years ago, surpasses 400 million monthly users.
Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, noted on the 12th (local time) that Threads has exceeded 400 million monthly active users (MAUs). This achievement comes approximately two years after its launch in July 2013 as a 'rival to X.' Mosseri said, 'What started as a silly idea to compete with Twitter has now evolved into a platform where various perspectives can be freely exchanged.'
Earlier, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, disclosed in April that Threads' monthly user count had surpassed 350 million, meaning the platform gained 50 million users in just one quarter.
The number of Threads users is rapidly catching up to X. CEO Musk has stated that X has slightly over 600 million monthly users.
According to market research firm Similarweb, Threads' mobile daily user count is also approaching X. As of June, the daily active users of Threads' iPhone and Android mobile apps reached 115.1 million, marking a 127.8% increase from the previous year. In the same period, X had 132 million users, a decrease of 15.2% year-on-year.
However, in terms of daily visitors through the web, X still leads significantly. In June, X had an average of 145.8 million global web visitors per day, while Threads had only 6.9 million.
Over the past year, Threads has attracted users with new features such as direct messaging (DM), consolidation with other social networks through the fediverse, personalized feeds, and enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
Threads is also rapidly growing in Korea, particularly among those in their 20s and 30s. According to Mobileindex, Threads recorded 5.43 million monthly active users in Korea as of July. This is an increase of about 2.4 million compared to 3.04 million in July of the previous year. An IT industry official stated, 'As a text-based social network like X, Threads has naturally established a communication culture among local users that centers around informal language, gaining popularity, especially among younger people.'