User traffic on Twitter has slowed since the launch of Meta’s text-based platform, Threads, which has already surpassed 100 million sign-ups since its debut last week, NBC News reported.
Threads announced in the U.S. on Wednesday and is being touted by Meta executives like Instagram chief Adam Mosseri as a more positive “public square” for communities “that never really embraced Twitter.” So far, users seem to be on board.
“Threads reached 100 million sign ups over the weekend. That’s mostly organic demand and we haven’t even turned on many promotions yet. Can’t believe it’s only been 5 days!” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post Monday.
According to Similarweb, a data company that specializes in web analytics, web traffic to Twitter was down 5% for the first two full days Threads was generally available compared with the previous week. The company said Twitter’s web traffic is down 11% compared with the same days in 2022.
Twitter responded to CNBC’s request for comment with an automated response. Meta didn’t offer additional comment beyond Zuckerberg’s post.
The booming growth on Threads is helped by the fact that it is tied to an existing social network, Meta’s Instagram. Users can sign up with their existing handles on Instagram and are able to retain some of their following others sign up for the app.
The Guardian wrote that Twitter’s website traffic is “tanking” according to the chief of internet services company Cloudflare, amid signs users are migrating to alternative platforms such as Threads, BlueSky and Mastodon.
According to The Guardian, on Sunday, Matthew Prince posted a graph from Cloudflare’s ranking of the most popular websites in the world showing Twitter has been in decline since the start of 2023, not long after Elon Musk took over the platform.
The graph shows a significant drop in Cloudflare’s domain server ranking for Twitter in mid-2023 coincided with unpopular changes Musk made to the site, and the launch of Meta-owned rival platform Threads.
Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a post on Threads that he believes the toxicity of Twitter – which is purported to have 250 million users – has kept the site from being successful.
While Thread aims to be a “kinder” place, research form Media Matters showed “within 24 hours of Threads’ release, right-wing and fringe figures signed up for the platform.”
According to The Guardian, some far-right accounts are testing the platform’s moderation – which adopts the same rules as Facebook and Instagram – in attempts to get banned as a badge of honor.
Personally, I’m not thrilled with Twitter anymore. That said, I’m also not interesting in jumping over to Threads or Bluesky. My “happy place” is over on Mastodon, in a server that has incredibly good moderators.