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Time flies, especially on social media. It's already been over a year since Threads launched—Meta's alternative to X (formerly Twitter)—which sparked a huge initial surge of interest in the text-based platform and broke records gaining 10 million users in just seven hours.
Lauded as a welcome return to thought-initiating conversations online, Threads has racked up more than 175 million monthly active users in its first 12 months, but interest has gradually slowed, with the platform now adding around five million active users a month and still lagging some way behind its rival X in daily active users.
When Threads first launched, linking user accounts between Instagram and itself, it opened a unique window of opportunity called ‘underpriced attention', explains Miki Sim, director of platforms and culture at VaynerMedia APAC.
"For marketers, it was a prime moment to capture visibility as consumers flocked to explore the new app," says Sim. "Several of our clients in Australia seized this underpriced attention opportunity, becoming some of the first brands worldwide to establish a presence on Threads, and experiencing good growth and engagement during this period."
While the growth of Threads has slumped compared to its record-breaking launch, with Elon Musk's X currently dogged in controversy and haemorrhaging users and advertisers at an alarming rate, experts say this could be the prime opportunity for Threads to pick up the mantle and become X's genuine rival.
"This is the ideal time for Threads to strike while the iron is hot as X becomes a less conducive space for brands and creators to thrive in," says Elly Lau, behavioural analyst at Canvas8.
"For instance, in Japan, where X has long dominated, users who are frustrated with Elon Musk’s policies have been migrating to Threads as an alternative. While user growth has been tapering in 2024, brands are capitalising on this migration, and we’re seeing companies like Uniqlo and Starbucks buffing up their local market presence on the app."
"I think brands who are looking to have more personal conversations with their audience can do so on Threads," says Gina McKinnon, CEO of content at OMG APAC. "It gives brands an opportunity to get clever and original with their organic content. We have seen good success stories from a community management point of view."
With this in mind, there’s lots of room to play around with Threads’ multimedia features like polls, GIFs, and audio posts to drive real-time conversations with audiences. Specifically, there’s lots of potential for brand co-creation in ways that feel more organic than Instagram or TikTok.
"One example of a brand that’s really leaning into this is Disney, which uses Threads as a tool to directly speak with fans through Q&A-style posts," says Lau. "This differs from its X page, which focuses more on straightforward content updates from the brand."
Specifically, in APAC, Japan is a standout market for Threads. While the overall penetration rate is still only at 5%—far below X’s 44%—its numbers have been steadily growing over the past year with nearly 11 million users in the country. Notably, Nielsen data shows that Gen Y and Z users account for 41% of Threads users in Japan, with a notable skew towards young women (26%).
India is also another emerging market when it comes to Threads usage, and local users have been gravitating towards the platform as a vehicle for fan expression. Indian users created more than 50 million tags around pop culture topics ranging from cricket to celebrities and OTT content, which demonstrates the platform’s potential to bring fandoms together. India’s Thread users also have an appetite for multimedia engagement on the platform—Meta reports that they’re more likely to mention another user and attach a video in their posts compared to the global average.
Elsewhere in APAC, users are engaging with Threads in a way that resembles the town square model that Elon Musk had envisioned for X but couldn’t quite achieve. For instance, Hong Kong youths flocked to Threads for unfiltered commentary on the Paris Olympics after Gen Z fencer Ryan Choi went viral for his refreshingly candid social presence on the platform.
"I think Threads could become a real competitor to X in the long term, especially with its cross-platform advantages," says Prasit Kunanuphanchai, head of brand and digital planning at BBDO Bangkok. "However, for now, it needs to find a unique feature or compelling reason to encourage users to switch from X. Building a strong community, which takes time, is crucial to this effort."
Werner Iucksch, SVP, head of social, APAC at Media.Monks, says that the story of X vs Threads is a bit of a red herring. He believes what matters most is the value that either platform brings to consumers, and that a better discussion would focus on the role social media plays for the brand and which platforms suit that strategy best.
"Threads currently has a smaller footprint than X, but that isn’t necessarily a problem—we have clients who go strong on Discord, which is similarly in a stage of growth driven by a passionate user base and communities in gaming and crypto, and Reddit also has substantial community value," says Iucksch. "Line similarly has a limited size, but a solid footprint in markets such as Japan and Taiwan. For Threads, the question marketers face is what unique opportunities the platform offers that others don’t, like its cross-platform synergy with Instagram."
Back in June, Threads finally launched its API, meaning developers can build their own integrations into the app. In recent weeks, Threads has also been ramping up their monetisation push and launching tools like post-scheduling and performance analytics to help creators.
"The problem is that right now, there’s only a very small pool of brands and creators who are posting consistently on Threads, so there isn’t as much engaging content volume-wise that will keep users on the platform compared to TikTok and Instagram," says Lau. "Seeing how there’s a general sense of fatigue and disillusionment among creators that sustainable monetisation is more difficult than ever, Threads should leverage its emerging appeal and demonstrate how they can support creators—especially smaller ones who may struggle to stand out in a very saturated influencer landscape."
Having a clear USP and point of differentiation that sets it apart from others is what Threads appears to be lacking.
"I look forward to seeing Threads gain its footing on its journey to build value for more consumers and brands, but getting there will mean casting a clearer spotlight on what sets the platform apart from others," says Iucksch. “That will go a long way in helping marketers envision the role it plays in the social media mix."
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