Threads user base is entirely based on Instagram and Facebook users, who probably made an account but continue to interact with those platforms rather than Threads. It's a zombie user base.
Kinda hilarious how this graph suggests that Bsky is becoming so big in part as a form of mass retaliation against Musk for influencing the outcome of the election.
Threads never managed to convince me. The de facto requirement to link it to your Instagram account was already an absolute no-go. But there’s much more, and now it’s about to be flooded with ads as well.
There has been a lot of publicity lately. This could either be a blip with a lot of people just checking it out, or it might reach a critical mass where most people have friends here, and keep growing.
I joined both as soon as they launched but kept using twitter while I waited to see which would emerge as the better app.
It took less than a month for me to delete Threads because it was so boring. I didn’t even start using Bsky yet but I knew it was just a matter of time.
Also that does not include mobile users makes the whole thing sketch. I haven't used a PC to log into fb since I could do it on a phone and I've done it once on bluesky just to make sure I wasn't missing options with the phone
The only reason they have twice is because it’s people from Instagram and some people haven’t even logged into that account or even realize they have it.
Threads could have buried Twitter when it ramped up users, but they specifically chose not to function like old Twitter & intentionally made it unusable for breaking news.
Almost like Elon & Zuck made a side deal because they shared a political goal.
Probs because they made Thread piggyback users from IG and artificially inflated the numbers, which inadvertently turned it into a ghost town the collects IG runoff.
hahahah that's because almost everyone on bluesky has a dormant threads account. we've all tried everything to get off twitter and this is where we've landed...
The fact that it's now almost doing a million a day means that it's finally hit its stride. With so many journalists and LGBTQIA+ members here it's not going to slow down.
A lot of people starting to move from X to BlueSky. Many have been silenced on X. My 10 year old account has been permanently suspended without any prior warning or explanation.
While this excludes the apps, it means power users on desktop are more inclined to use bluesky. This could mean a boon for the developer community since building tools on here is so much easier.
I still don't think people grasp the idea. Threads has help from Instagram to migrate users to threads with the push of a button while bluesky is standalone. Threads numbers are just a correlation of whatever Instagram numbers are. Not to mention Whatsapp. in other words BlueSky is killing it.
Love that you posted this very important and relevant info and people went right back to ‘as someone with ADHD I post on a special app I developed in a bout of hyper focus and I think…’ lol.
Speaking as a developer here with experience building stuff on every social network that will let me, both the architecture and dev community here are phenomenal.
I feel like the apps are the main way people access threads or Bluesky though. Interesting data but i wouldn’t be surprised if the threads numbers are way above bluesky via app access.
I just like typing on a full-size physical keyboard so it doesn't take me like a minute+ to type something that a keyboard would get done in 4 seconds.
Speech to text requires too much coddling for lots of less common words and terms, and cannot stylize text. Swyping is what I use on mobile, and I type much faster on it than anyone else I know, but certainly not as fast as 130+ WPM I can do on a real keyboard.
Fair—I don't use it for long form either. My skeets avg fewer than 130 words and I do it randomly throughout the day, so including my time to access a computer would tank my wpm.
It's funny, I was curious but couldn't find a single swype-compatible typing test bc they track letter-by-letter.
on Threads they keep making the point about usercount and i keep asking what those users are worth. it doesn't take long to see the engagement here drawfs what you get on Threads, people here are much more active and fast paced about it. BSky is a ticker.
Taking a second to think about this... I bet it's because META has it tethered to Instagram. I've linked my accounts but use Threads while rarely using Instagram, which makes me think the majority of accounts are probably the opposite. Setting up a Threads but mostly on Instagram
threads bolstered their numbers by automatically registering every ig account. it's a sterile incoherent place filled with the dumbest most desperate and gullible psudochristians
Well, from personal experience the total number of followers has been skyrocketing in the last 3 days… And this seems to be happening with several accounts I’m following - all are seeing very fast follower growth.
Threads could have folk joining, noticing algorithm not user friendly and ditching it. Also some users due to this maybe going on a few times a day, rather than scrolling like on here.
I opened a Threads account at the beginning, even went so far as to add most everyone I could find that I followed on Twitter, but then few of them ever posted there — and it was mostly just reposts from Twitter — so I rarely check Threads even though I still have that account.
Graph has a significant lack of lines for the month boundaries making it harder to tell, but I suspect that first big spike was October 21 (announcement of the AI training term of service for Xitter)
If bluesky doesn't fix some major problems orienting new accounts (such as being able to find a previous stab at an account which I was able to find before I did this) and other day to day operations of posting, searching, and what becomes the opening page when I check in... I dunno.
Was thinking this am how instagram auto posting to threads and the placement of viral threads in the instagram feed must really goose their user metrics. Like that could be the lions share of active use.
I'm trying to remember how I ended up trying Threads. Was it one of the initial times Twitter went down? Anyway, went over there and I couldn't believe there wasn't an option for a chronological TL. Talk about not understanding the assignment.
I used it once to sign up or whatever but couldn't find the post they'd jammed into my instagram that I'd gone there to see. didn't go back after that. can't delete it bc I need the gram for work. so yeah
Threads was able to boost their number of users very early on by bootstrapping off of instagram accounts. They got a large number of users to install the app because they embed links to threads posts that you see as you scroll through Instagram.
I think it's supposed to be impossible to delete a Threads account without deleting your full Meta account, plus Instagram and Facebook constantly bother users to make a Threads account. I suspect this juices the numbers for Threads.
On the Fedi (Mastodon, Lemmy, etc.), we called them "boneless Fediverse", as it had all the trappings of Meta's other platforms (which also included the piss poor moderation).
At first I feared that Bluesky will be the same corporate mess, but as the more annoying Twitter users instead decided to use Mastodon, I changed my mind.
Nearly chose threads, but decided against it. Not that keen on zuck, so i deleted my instagram account, didn’t really like it anyway.
So i went for Bluesky and find you here and a few others from the other place
Threads fed me garbage about why we needed to support genocide. Then it fed me garbage about how everything was just fine with Joe's brain. Then it fed me garbage about how Kamala would carry Texas and Florida.
I deleted Threads, I was tired of being fed garbage.
Based exclusively on its connection to Instagram and Meta, I've never suspected a more artificial form of platform growth than Threads. It's like a whole platform built on paid vs. organic growth (in social media marketing parlance).
Without providing a nonstop ad firehouse for itself on Instagram, it would have had to survive on its merits alone. That's why I hate paid ad growth. It's artificial and not long lasting when building communities.
You can't delete your threads account once you create it without also deleting your Instagram account (which is so stupid) so I'm sure many people, like me, technically have an account but only ever used it for a day
Exactly. I joined, saw my feed was already populated with influencer and celebrity stuff and never used it but I can’t shut it down because I sometimes use instagram.
how much of that is because Threads billed itself as easy to extend your user account over from another Meta product, but then most people ignored it almost instantly
I need to see DAU/MAU for X. Elon refuses to ever discuss daily active users. The ratio used to be over 30%, while 10-20% is healthy. I bet it has slipped below 15% as many MAU become intermittent users.
not even speaking from a place of hate, but what do people like... do on threads? like what is it used for? when i got an account last year it seemed like it pandered too much towards brands.
like i guess it's just that bluesky reminds me more of the golden days of twitter before the musk takeover, where as threads feels more like a hybrid of instagram & facebook... it also just seems too corporate and AI friendly.
I used it just like Bluesky and found people I liked from Twitter. I tried to stick with the Following tab so I wouldn't see nonsense. However, the algorithm is extremely reactive (like the Instagram version), making it intolerable post-election (tons of panic posts).
I'm primarily on threads but like many, am hedging my bets over here due to policy changes. Most people who hate threads expected it to be Twitter and it's not. I've seen more authentic, warm and fun expressions of humanity on threads than any other app. I'm sad Zuck's Trump endorsement tanked it
There’s literally a ton of people on tiktok asking wth is BlueSky and is everyone going? See side thing, TikTok recently started promoting more right wing content after their latest meeting regarding selling and tiktokers are pissed. We are about to get swamped here too.
Tiktokers want an alt site to share their vids and stuff and twitter made them unhappy and now TikTok is flooding us with maga. They’ll make their content there still but they’re coming to BSKY too.
Maybe b/c from what I've seen from the outside, Meta is trying very hard to limit Threads users to fun, lighthearted stuff. I was going to say 'inconsequential' initially but it's not. It's just not 100% of the filling of a good social media pie.
I tried threads. It’s close to a winning formula but to counter something like the old Twitter you need more. Starter packs here really helped. Of course six months ago when I tried threads, not enough people were ready to switch.
Threads tried to quell political talk, and has shadowbanned people for fairly innocuous comments. On some posts you will see "we hid these replies because they might be offensive, misleading or spam" and you look at the actual remark, and it is innocuous. It really isn't conducive to discussions.
I mean… Threads is basically Facebook in Twitter form. Yes, there are good features such as an edit button. But overall Threads is no different than Facebook in limiting “controversial” or political content, and diminishing the voices of minorities. @bsky.app is the Twitter we all miss.
I switched off Threads almost immediately as there was no search function. I want to be able to find where the interesting conversations are happening. BlueSky is making that very easy.
I feel like Threads cheats the numbers by making Instagram users like, automatically Threads users if they tap into it even once to see what the notification is all about.
Result is a ton of "accounts" but, not nearly as much activity as it implies.
Comments
It took less than a month for me to delete Threads because it was so boring. I didn’t even start using Bsky yet but I knew it was just a matter of time.
Their users don't use theads.
Almost like Elon & Zuck made a side deal because they shared a political goal.
We got blue skies to reach and the Oligarchs aren’t holding us back.
I chose to be on Bluesky, while I feel I was pushed into joining Threads since it’s affiliated with Instagram.
I’m sure I could have opted out, so it’s not like I’m there against my will…but it kinda feels that I’m there against my will.
The right love harassing us 🤣
But swype is roughly as fast for me as touch typing...actually touch typing trains you for touch swyping
It's funny, I was curious but couldn't find a single swype-compatible typing test bc they track letter-by-letter.
Eventually https://bsky.app will be the
EPICENTER
It will need to become a bigger company larger than 20 full-time employees.
This will be massive sooner rather than later.
@jay.bsky.team @rose.bsky.team
So there does seem to be a real groundswell.
Plus the servers have been a bit iffy
I must say I don’t know anything about Threads - I refuse to try it 😅
Here, entrenched and asking for followers to amplify my little voice. Happy to follow back. Thanks all!
No one likes hanging out in those places.
No desire to go inside.
So i went for Bluesky and find you here and a few others from the other place
I deleted Threads, I was tired of being fed garbage.
I’d imagine it’ll be full of ads before long too. Very suspicious of it. (They made a total mess of instagram - can’t trust them.)
A significant amount of people use these platforms through their phones.
/S
I didn't see a single person mention threads.
You doesn't need to spend million to see people come here
Just a functional site and a good moderation and that's it .
Result is a ton of "accounts" but, not nearly as much activity as it implies.