Meta’s Twitter Rival App Threads Rolls Out Major Updates

Threads has lost over half of its users since its launch this month. To staunch the hemorrhaging, Meta rolled out its first major update of the app on Tuesday.

According to Reuters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the drop-off is “normal” and retention rates will grow as the company adds more features to the app.

Some of the new features include a translation button, a tab providing all the latest updates regarding people who have followed the user, and much more. Chris Cox, chief product officer at Meta Platforms said, “We are looking at adding more ‘retention-driving hooks’ to entice users to return to the app, like ‘making sure people who are on the Instagram app can see important Threads.’” Further updates will include a desktop version and search functionality.

While people have been enjoying the new features, there were some issues that cropping up as well. Users have been complaining about bots and spam appearing on the app. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, had a response for this as well. In a post on the app, he noted, “the focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention. It’ll take time to stabilize, but once we nail that then we’ll focus on growing the community.”

In the two weeks after the launch of Meta’s Twitter rival app it had more than 100 million users signing up from all over the world. But after its impressive launch, PYMNTS reported user engagement dipping on the app, detailing a drop in the average time users spend on the app from 19 minutes to four minutes and a drop in the number of daily active users of 70% from its peak, to 13 million.

Despite some issues that users may be facing, Zuckerberg assured them that the rate of retention was better than expected and he considered the drift to be normal. He added, “Early growth was off the charts, but more importantly 10s of millions of people now come back daily.”

PYMNTS has reported on the moves Threads’ top rival is making as well.

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is making efforts to regain advertisers by offering discounted prices and new incentives. The platform is providing a 50% discount on new bookings of video ads that run alongside trending topics in its Explore tab, among other discounts. X is also warning brands that their accounts will no longer be verified if they fail to meet the required spending threshold. While X has previously attempted to attract advertisers with cheaper pricing, it still has a long way to go to reach its goal. The recent appointment of new CEO Linda Yaccarino, who has a background in advertising, has given some advertisers hope for stability and content moderation.

In an attempt to stop data scraping, X recently limited the number of posts users can read, which resulted in a decrease in ad engagement. However, the company has since eased these limits. X has also undergone a rebranding effort, changing its name from Twitter to X, as part of Musk’s strategy to transform the platform into an “everything app.”

Despite concerns about the social media industry being “broken,” social media platforms remain a valuable way for brands to reach customers. PYMNTS research shows that as of March, around 63% of consumers were actively participating in social media activities, and this figure has remained above 60% for over a year. Brands recognize the opportunity to access close to two-thirds of all U.S. consumers and are strategizing to navigate the challenges and maximize their reach on these platforms.