Yes and no, Threads is dead as a doorknob in some circles and absolutely thriving in others. On Meta’s Q3 2024 earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads is now up to 275 million monthly active users, rising from the 200 million monthly active users that Meta reported back in August. That’s a whopping 37.5% increase in just 3 months! To put it into perspective, Threads had more than 15 million signups in November 2024 alone, with more than 1 million a day for the past three months.
So who’s actually using Threads? Well, so far it’s a mix of lifestyle influencers, celebrities, casual users/average humans, fringe users (think conspiracy theorists), and some journalists and political people. Also, a lot of online business owners.
In direct rivalry with Threads are Mastodon, Bluesky, and of course X (formerly Twitter). Because Threads is integrated with Instagram, it’s no surprise that it’s attracted the more casual, visually-focused crowd; whereas Mastodon, Bluesky, and X currently attract more political, controversial discussions.
For reference, Mastodon currently averages about 1 million monthly active users, Bluesky is at about 20 million monthly active users, and X has about 611 million active users. Ever since Elon Musk took over ownership of X in October 2022, the app has seen periodic user exoduses. The day after November 6, 2024, X saw 115,414 account deactivations, the most it has gotten since Musk took ownership of the site. Some people have issues with X’s political and AI privacy policies, while others simply dislike the division, conspiracy theories, and the app’s overall vibe.
As a result, apps like Bluesky and Threads are booming! While Threads’ growth hasn’t been the steadiest since it was launched in July 2023, it’s definitely not going anywhere. Meta has no plans to shut Threads down (for now), promising not to introduce ads onto the platform until it reaches 1 billion monthly active users. Zuckerberg even said the company doesn’t expect Threads to contribute to Meta’s revenue in 2025.
So while it’s not going anywhere (and definitely isn’t dead), Threads has a long way to go until it’s profitable for Meta and builds an unshakable user base in the multi-millions. With the way things are going with X, it’s highly likely that Threads will only continue to grow and become the next Twitter.
Is Marketing on Threads Worth It For Businesses?
Short answer: If your business’s target market is on Threads, then a HUGE yes. Long answer: Because Threads fosters a more authentic and warm community environment (than X, Bluesky, and Mastodon), Threads could be worthwhile for your marketing if you’re also able to really match the vibe. Your first few posts should give you an insight into whether or not your messaging and tone of voice resonates with users.
You should know: only 13% of Threads app downloads were by U.S. users from 2023 to 2024. That means the majority of Threads users are all around the world, so it’s a majorly global audience. And about 63% of users are 24+ years old (the rest are between 18 and 24 years old).
Threads can be great for marketing especially if you’re tired of creating Canva or Photoshop graphics and attention-grabbing captions to post on visual social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. In comparison, just having to write text is a big time-saver. But of course, you still have to think of what to write and how to write it. So if you’re planning to hire someone to take care of your business’s Threads account, then be sure to look for super strong writing and copywriting skills. If you’re planning to DIY it, then you might want to practice your copywriting and run your piece of content’s text through the Hemingway Editor for some free feedback.
All in all, Threads has yet to solidify itself in the text-based social media platform race, but it’s definitely gaining speed and strength over time as users leave X and seek out alternatives. It’s FAR from dead going into 2025, and will likely only grow throughout all of 2025.
