Meta's social networking service Threads, once dubbed a "Twitter killer," surpassed 500 million monthly active users (MAU) last month. Growing to a scale rivaling X, the original text-based SNS formerly known as Twitter, the milestone once again proved the strength of Meta, an established powerhouse in social media.
According to the New York Times (NYT) on Sunday, Threads' MAU exceeded 500 million last month. That is a scale similar to X, currently estimated at about 550 million. Meta launched Threads the year after Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X. In just three years since launch, it has grown to a scale that threatens the original platform.
It still falls well short of Facebook and Instagram, Meta's flagship services. According to market research firm Business of Apps, Threads ranked 15th in global SNS monthly users as of April this year. There remains a considerable gap with No. 1 Facebook (3.07 billion), No. 2 YouTube (2.85 billion), No. 3 WhatsApp (2.8 billion) and No. 4 Instagram (2.35 billion). Some assess that the growth pace has slowed somewhat compared with its early boom, when it reached 100 million subscribers fastest right after launch, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Nonetheless, the market is taking note of the fact that Threads is establishing itself as an independent platform, emerging from Instagram's shadow. Meta said the proportion of users who go directly to Threads without going through Instagram or Facebook promotion is steadily increasing. In its early days, Threads required linking an Instagram account to sign up, and was overseen by Instagram head Adam Mosseri. But in July last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appointed Connor Hayes, who had been vice president of generative AI, as the dedicated head of Threads, strengthening an independent service strategy.
Interest-Centered Instead of Politics... More Users in Their 30s and 40s Than X
The NYT cited "interest-centered community" as Threads' greatest competitive edge. Rather than consuming news, users gather around specific interests and freely discuss a variety of topics. Meta is also developing its service to match how it is actually used, creating dedicated community spaces, providing badges to active posters, and allowing users to directly adjust the recommendation algorithm.
Ally Kimmel, a K-pop community operator who joined Threads last year, described Threads as "a platform centered on fun and light conversation rather than politics." She said, "Unlike X or Bluesky, there are many users in their 30s and 40s."
Threads is growing especially fast in the Asian market. According to Meta, over the past year, usage time increased 80% in Korea and 130% in Japan. In Korea, an analysis holds that a culture of "S-Ha-Ri" (Threads follow, heart, repost) and the so-called "Threads style" centered on casual speech has formed, drawing user participation. Japan is traditionally a market with high text-based SNS usage, with X users reaching about two-thirds of the entire population. Targeting these characteristics, Meta also opened an official account sharing regional information in Japan in April.
Threads' unexpected strong showing appears likely to have a considerable impact on Meta's platform strategy. CEO Zuckerberg has so far given Threads a low priority, rating it as a "fifth flagship app" following Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger. According to the NYT, in the recent earnings announcement he mentioned AI 49 times, while mentioning Threads only twice.
However, Meta's AI business, in which it continues to make massive investments, has yet to secure a clear advantage over OpenAI and Anthropic, and its metaverse business, which it had touted as a next-generation growth engine, has been scaled back. Threads, by contrast, introduced advertising in January this year, launching monetization for the first time.
Melissa Otto, head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha, forecast that Threads could generate at least $30 billion (about 46 trillion won) in annual revenue if it secures 1 billion users and a stable advertising business. This could serve as a meaningful additional growth engine for Meta as well, which recorded $201 billion (about 308 trillion won) in revenue last year centered on advertising, according to the analysis.
