In addition to adding new features to Threads to counter the sudden rise of Bluesky, it seems that Meta’s PR team is also being deployed to negate the narrative that Bluesky is the hot platform of the moment.
As reported by Axios, Meta has today shared that 35 million more people have signed up for Threads accounts in November, and that sign-ups have actually increased over the last two weeks, versus the first weeks of the month.
So more people are signing up for Threads accounts, despite the perceived rise of Bluesky. Though the variance between “sign ups” and “active users” is important to note, with the latter being a more relevant measurement in this context.
For example, Threads reached 100 million sign-ups in July last year, breaking the record for the fastest sign-up growth rate ever. But it didn’t reach 100 million active users till three months later. So sign-ups, in this respect, is relative, as it doesn’t mean that those people are actually sticking around and becoming regular users of the app.
And really, based on Threads’ user growth rate, 35 million sign ups in a month doesn’t actually seem like an increase.
Threads reported reaching 275 million monthly active users late last month, which was up from the 175 million actives that Meta reported back in July.
That means that Threads is adding users at a rate of more than 30 million per month, which seems much more significant than 35 million account sign-ups.
So really, I’m not sure that Meta’s figures show that Threads is gaining momentum, though they do show that people are still signing up to Threads, even if Bluesky is also adding millions of users.
To be clear, Bluesky, which is currently at 20 million active users, is nowhere close to Threads’ active usage as yet. And neither is close to the 570 million monthly actives that X reported back in July. But momentum is important, and it is clear that Meta is at least a little spooked by the rising interest in Bluesky, and what that could mean for its Threads growth plans.
Instagram and Threads chief Adam Mosseri admitted as much yesterday, noting, in response to a question about the sudden rollout of a range of Threads features, that:
“We certainly pulled forward a number of things that were already in the works [in response to Bluesky], including shipping a few things with backtests instead of testing first, and then of course we did add a few things as well.”
Meta knows that an app that gains 20 million users could easily rise to 40 million, then 100 million, depending on who, exactly, starts posting there, and whether that then pulls audiences into their new orbit. So it’s naturally concerned about the rate of increasing interest, but Bluesky doesn’t pose an existential threat to Threads as yet.
And I don’t actually think that it ever will, as Meta will just replicate its features and negate its growth, as it’s done with various other apps.
But it is interesting that Meta seems so keen to disrupt the conversation, and poke holes in the trending Bluesky story.