Forget The Billionaire Cage Match — Will Threads Kill Twitter?
Key takeaways
- Meta’s Twitter rival, Threads, hit 100 million users this week
- Twitter traffic has slowed since Threads launched
- Advertisers, investors and users are all wondering if Threads will kill Twitter
While Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg hurl insults at each other, they’re also engaged in a legitimate battle of businesses.There’s been tons of buzz about Threads, and what we want to know is: Is Threads actually going to kill Twitter? We discuss below.
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What does Threads have going for it?
Threads has two major advantages over the competition. First: The built-in network of Instagram removes the barrier to entry that other Twitter wannabes face. Second: It’s not run by Elon Musk, whose leadership has by most accounts made Twitter a less pleasant place.
If you’re logged into Instagram, your username is already waiting for you on Threads and you can automatically follow all your Instagram followers. Boom — a built-in following. Threads has already surpassed 100 million users.
Advertisers have been ditching Twitter left and right as Musk’s leadership fueled concerns over moderation and overall business strategy. Twitter reported that advertising accounted for 90% of the company’s $5.1 billion in annual revenue in 2021.
This spring, Musk said he expected this year’s revenue to hit about $3 billion. If those advertisers aren’t on Twitter, they might be ready to put their dollars to use on a platform like Threads that has the significant Meta advertising ecosystem behind it.
But can Threads really beat Twitter?
Threads has so much potential, but it’s early days.
In general, it’s obvious that Threads is not yet in its final form. Your feed isn’t organized chronologically or by people you follow, resulting in a kind of algorithmic smoothie. Major features like search and direct messages are still forthcoming.
Yes, Threads has the lucrative Instagram audience attached to it, which is certainly attractive to brands, but let’s not forget that Meta has had its fair share of privacy concerns in the past.
There’s also a catch with signing up for Threads right now: You can’t delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instagram. Will this fly with the FTC? Unclear.
Then, there is the certain je ne sais quoi of Twitter. It was decidedly not about influencer culture or, frankly, anything visual. In its golden era, the app brought us breaking news, hot takes, and cutting-edge humor. Will Threads, connected as it is to Instagram, translate to an interesting text-based experience?
While the features, revenue potential, and longer term popularity of Threads are all still TBD, one thing is for sure: Meta has created the rival with the best chance of toppling Twitter so far.
The bottom line
If Zuckerberg and team can iron out the user experience kinks and lure advertisers, Threads is a credible threat to Twitter. Whether the app has any longevity will also come down to whether or not people like using it, and on that point, we’ll have to wait and see.
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