The growth rate of user interactions on “X”, a social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has faltered. This has been partly attributed to Musk’s polarising leadership style and the intensified competition from Meta’s newly introduced platform, Threads, which stands as a direct competitor.
Previously undisclosed data reveals that X clinched 251 million global daily active users in this year’s second quarter, marking a meagre 1.6 per cent increase from the previous year, a stark deviation from the double-digit growth its experienced prior to Musk’s takeover. Back in October 2022, Musk had privatized the originally listed enterprise for $44 billion.
Under Musk’s management, the platform underwent rebranding, but subsequently faced a decline in its advertiser population, primarily due to his firm stance advocating for unrestricted speech. His decision to retract a considerable percentage of the platform’s content monitors has also been frowned upon by detractors who insist that such changes have fostered a harsher user environment. Despite the criticisms, Musk asserts that the drastic modifications were necessary in mitigating spiralling financial deficits.
In the competition for user engagement, X is under threat from new rivals. A year ago, Threads, a competing platform owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, had been unveiled, presenting a direct challenge to X. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, disclosed that Threads had accumulated 175 million monthly active users, in contrast with X’s reported 600 million.
However, according to Sensor Tower, an analytics company, Threads has recorded only 38 million daily users — individuals who access the app at least once in a day. This suggests a less frequent usage compared to other platforms. Threads had initially drawn an impressive surge of interest, especially in its founding week when 100 million users had registered. However, in the subsequent period, it experienced a serious decline in user base.
Zuckerberg, in February, confessed during an earnings discussion that the premature blowing up of the platform was a setback.
Since the autumn, Threads had sequentially augmented its user count, gaining impetus from its recent entry into the European Union market in December and the registrations of high-profile users such as Taylor Swift (April). Additionally, it benefits from promotions on its sibling platform Instagram, which accounts for approximately two-thirds of its web visits, as reported by Similarweb.
In a bid to shun “examination, adverse effects, or issues relating to sincerity,” Meta has assigned its pre-existing review squads to oversee Threads, with a resolution to refrain from promoting news or political matter, so stated Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and Threads, last year.
A recent survey performed by Ofcom revealed that 17% of British adults utilise X as a news platform. Still, according to Similarweb’s data, the platform’s engagement has been diminishing amid election campaigns in the US, UK, and France.
Nevertheless, X dismissed the figures by Similarweb, stating that there was a considerable surge in its US and UK monthly users between August of the previous year and this year’s June, though specific statistics were withheld. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024.