• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
TechMeta

Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads is struggling to hold people’s attention with time spent on the new app sinking to 6 minutes from its peak of 21 minutes

Nicholas Gordon
By
Nicholas Gordon
Nicholas Gordon
Asia Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
Nicholas Gordon
By
Nicholas Gordon
Nicholas Gordon
Asia Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 20, 2023, 6:15 AM ET
Updated July 20, 2023, 10:21 AM ET
Average time spent on Threads, Meta's Twitter-killer app, fell from 21 to just over six minutes between July 7 and 14.
Average time spent on Threads, Meta's Twitter-killer app, fell from 21 to just over six minutes between July 7 and 14.Michael Nagle—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Interest in Threads, Meta’s supposed ‘Twitter-killer’ app, may already be fraying.

Recommended Video

Just a week after the app’s peak usage on July 7, average time spent on the app each day fell from 21 minutes to six minutes among U.S. users, according to an analysis by Similarweb, a digital data firm. The company tracked usage based on the social media service’s Android app. 

Time spent on Twitter also took a slight knock over this period, falling by 4.3% (at least on Android). Yet the total, at 25 minutes, was still far above Meta’s competing app.

Daily active users on Meta’s Android app for Threads also fell between July 7 and 14, from 49 million to 23.6 million. Twitter had about 107 million users on July 14, according to Similarweb. 

Meta executives suggested that they were expecting a fall in interest. “Our focus right now is not engagement, which has been amazing, but getting past the initial peak and trough we see with every new product,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote on Threads on Sunday, eight days after the app’s release. 

“Early growth was off the charts, but more importantly tens of millions of people now come back daily,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Threads on Monday, saying the growth was “way ahead of what we expected.” He continued that “the focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention.”

Meta launched its Twitter competitor, built on Meta’s existing Instagram platform, to a massive reception on July 5. Just five days after release, Zuckerberg claimed that the new social media service had over 100 million users.

If accurate, that number would make Threads the fastest-growing consumer app ever, beating OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the previous record holder.

Over a quarter of users for Threads are in India, reports Nikkei Asia citing data from Sensor Tower, a market research firm. The U.S. is in second place, with a 17.6% share of users. 

After Meta released Threads, both users and advertisers noted that the app was missing features common to other social media platforms, like the ability to search via hashtags.

Meta decided to release Threads “sooner rather than later” to see “if people were even interested” in the platform, Mosseri wrote on the platform a week ago.

That lack of basic features compared to Twitter may be one reason for the drop in engagement, writes David F. Carr, senior insight manager for Similarweb. Meta’s app “still needs to offer a compelling reason to switch from Twitter or start a new social media habit with Threads,” he continues. 

Meta announced new features for Threads on Tuesday, including an easier way for users to see who is following them and a translation function. 

A spokesperson for Meta, when asked for comment, referred Fortune to Zuckerberg and Mosseri’s posts on Threads.

Threads vs. Twitter

Meta reportedly accelerated its plans to launch Threads following missteps from Twitter and its owner Elon Musk.

Musk’s policy changes, particularly around content moderation, have unnerved brands and creators. Public figures were interested in a platform that was “sanely run,” Chris Cox, Meta’s chief product officer, said in an internal meeting earlier this year, reported The Verge.

Twitter’s owner has not taken the launch of Meta’s competitor well.

Musk has griped about Threads’ privacy permissions, challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight, and threatened to sue Meta for poaching ex-Twitter employees and stealing trade secrets. (Meta dismissed Musk’s allegations, saying that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.”)

Zuckerberg has also explicitly referred to Twitter when discussing Threads. “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1bn+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this, but hasn’t nailed it,” he wrote on the app soon after its launch.

Meta will “need a more compelling value proposition than simply ‘Twitter, but without Elon Musk,’” Anthony Bartoloacci, managing director at the online analytics firm Sensor Tower, told CNBC before the weekend. (Sensor Tower also reported drops in engagement and daily users for Threads.)

Threads is unlikely to completely replace Twitter, social media experts previously told Fortune.

Instead, the world of text-based social media would likely split into multiple platforms that offered different content: Twitter would be for breaking news and commentary, while Threads (like its parent app Instagram) would be for influencer-driven content. 

Twitter has its own problems. On Saturday, Musk revealed that Twitter’s advertising revenue was still down by 50%, and that the company had “negative cash flow.”

Update, July 20, 2023: This piece has been updated with a response from Meta.

About the Author
Nicholas Gordon
By Nicholas GordonAsia Editor
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Nicholas Gordon is an Asia editor based in Hong Kong, where he helps to drive Fortune’s coverage of Asian business and economics news.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

elon
CommentaryChina
China has 400 private space companies. The West is barely paying attention
By Rainer ZitelmannJuly 2, 2026
1 hour ago
hegseth
Startups & VentureVenture Capital
The defense tech boom has become a bubble—or it will be soon
By Allie GarfinkleJuly 2, 2026
3 hours ago
Emily Blunt is worth $80 million and just pocketed $15 million for her latest film—but she once wanted to be a Spanish translator for the UN
SuccessCareers
Emily Blunt is worth $80 million and just pocketed $15 million for her latest film—but she once wanted to be a Spanish translator for the UN
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
3 hours ago
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
By John KellJuly 1, 2026
17 hours ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIAnthropic
Anthropic’s AI models are back online after a two-week government standoff—settling the company and administration into a fragile truce
By Tristan BoveJuly 1, 2026
18 hours ago
Nikesh Arora, chief executive officer at Palo Alto Networks
SuccessJobs
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
19 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
21 hours ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.