• While Threads is gaining users in the millions every week, there isn’t a clear path to monetising the platform yet.
• Meta notes that it needs to expand on features for Threads as well as work on driving engagement.
• Meanwhile, Bluesky is gaining traction quickly among former X users.

Threads was launched in 2023 as a response to the failings of Twitter, now X. However, while the launch of Threads was marked by jabs at Twitter, Meta’s version of the social media style hasn’t really become the force many believed it would be.

During its Q3 earnings call, Meta stated that while it has plans to keep improving Threads, it doesn’t expect it to be a money maker now or even in 2025.

“We’re bringing on an increasing number of users each quarter and depth of engagement also continues to grow,” reports Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer.

The CFO goes on to say that user growth over the quarter has been strong especially in the US, Taiwan and Japan. Additionally, a raft of new features such as account insights for businesses and creators has more users signing up. Furthermore integration with the Fediverse is also still a key aspiration for Meta.

“We’ve been just pleased with the growth trajectory and again, are really focused on introducing features that the community finds valuable and working to deepen growth and engagement,” added Li.

However, despite this bullish attitude, Meta isn’t expecting Threads to become a key revenue driver this year or even in 2025. That’s surprising consider Threads now has 275 million daily active users which is great, as is the report that the platform welcomes a million new users every day. Threads accounts for just eight percent of Meta’s total daily userbase.

Against the backdrop of a similar app, Bluesky, this is very impressive given that Jack Dorsey’s second run at a Twitter platform has just passed the 13 million user mark. However, we have to mention that Bluesky was invite-only up until last year and since then it has rapidly hiked that user count especially when X got banned in Brazil or when X decided blocking was for the birds. Still, Threads is doing better than some would have you believe.

Or is it

The fact that Meta isn’t counting on Threads to drive revenue growth is interesting and could be interpreted in any number of ways. We suspect that a large part of that comes down to advertising or the lack thereof. Threads won’t start selling ad space until it reaches a “critical mass” of users. We suspect that will be a billion users but who really knows outside of Menlo Park.

While ad free browsing is great, it also means that there could be a lack of funding to develop features users want at the pace they want to see them. Users migrating from X – which like it or not they are – expect certain things like a functional video player, and Threads doesn’t offer much of what we expected it to.

There’s also the question of engagement which Meta has noted is an area that needs attention but how it tackles that problem is the question of the day.

The problem with Threads is that it’s still not entirely clear what Meta wants it to be and it best make a decision fast because Bluesky is making moves to establish itself as the better alternative to X.

Journalists and influencers will determine who wins this particular war because they will attract their followers to a platform and right now, Threads is attractive to neither of those groups.