Threads Web Version Has Minor Impact on Usage

The ability to post from the web did drive visits up 20% in the US in one week, but with little or no net gain overall

Threads launched as an app first, as we might expect from a social product of the Instagram team, which was one factor that discouraged active X (Twitter) content creators from switching to it as their main site for sharing. But the belated launch of a web version users can post messages to has done little to grow overall usage of the new social messaging tool from Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc.

Key takeaways

• Previously functional only as a read-only place to access member profiles, Threads became a read-write social network over the past week. Although it’s still early to see the impact, traffic to the threads.net website for the seven days through Monday was up just 3% worldwide, compared with the prior week. In the US, it jumped 20% – but still came nowhere close to matching the initial rush of interest when Threads launched at the beginning of July.
• In the US, unique visitors to the website rose by more than 133,000, or 13%, over that same week-to-week timeframe. But daily active users of the Threads Android app dropped by nearly the same amount, so it’s not clear that there was any overall usage gained. (We don’t yet have comparable numbers for iOS, but we suspect active users dropped for that platform, too).

Threads on the web in the US and UK

Internet users rushed to threads.net after the early July unveiling of the app, although there wasn’t much to do there – other than scan the QR code to download the app version. Threads user profiles were possible to view on the web, although there was no real navigation to them from the home page. As a result, web traffic to the site steadily declined, only recovering from its lowest level once it became possible to post to and browse the social network there.

You can see the uptick over the last week in the chart below.

The week-over-week change for the UK was even a little bit higher at 23%.

Threads on the web, worldwide

Worldwide, however, the impact was minimal, just a 3% increase in web traffic.

Meanwhile, app usage has yet to recover

On Android, daily active users briefly looked like a threat to X (Twitter) after the initial launch of Threads, before steeply dropping off.

In the US, the amount of time people were spending on Threads spiked to close to the level of Twitter – but it, too, has fallen steeply and not recovered.

Maybe it could still happen?

Web access is one of the missing features journalists and marketing managers cared about that has now been added. Threads is also on the verge of introducing a more capable search function. At some point, these added features could bring those searching for an alternative to X back to Threads in greater numbers. At some point, maybe, but not yet.

The Similarweb Insights & Communications team is available to pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (journalists are invited to write to press@similarweb.com). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or similarweb.com/blog/insights/.

Methodology

Disclaimer: All names, brands, trademarks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The data, reports, and other materials provided or made available by Similarweb consist of or include estimated metrics and digital insights generated by Similarweb using its proprietary algorithms, based on information collected by Similarweb from multiple sources using its advanced data methodologies. Similarweb shall not be responsible for the accuracy of such data, reports, and materials and shall have no liability for any decision by any third party based in whole or in part on such data, reports, and materials.

by David F. Carr

David covers social media, digital advertising, and generative AI. With a background in web trends since the 1990s, he’s also the author of "Social Collaboration for Dummies".