Earlier this year, ChatGPT achieved unprecedented consumer growth, amassing 100 million active users in just two months, making it the fastest-growing app of all time. However, this record has now been surpassed by Threads, which achieved the same feat in less than a week. According to Sensor Tower, a market-intelligence firm, Threads had the most successful launch day of any app in the past decade.
The speed at which the internet is evolving is remarkable. It took Twitter and Facebook over four years to reach 100 million users, while Instagram achieved this milestone in just over two years. TikTok accomplished it in nine months. Now, in 2023 alone, this record has been broken twice. The apps themselves have undergone significant improvements, with product managers dedicating countless hours to optimize the user registration process. Threads, especially due to its connection with Instagram, benefits greatly from these efforts. However, there is also a sense of fear of missing out (FOMO) prevalent among users. We all feel compelled to sign up immediately for the next big thing, fearing that we will be left behind.
Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that Threads’ extraordinary growth is heavily influenced by its association with the dominant social media empire of today. Threads is an Instagram product, and Instagram is owned by Meta (formerly known as Facebook). It leverages the social connections established over nearly two decades of Meta products. The term FOMO itself gained popularity alongside the rise of the social web, with Facebook playing a significant role in promoting it by initially launching exclusively at colleges and high schools. This phenomenon only grew as people started posting photos of their friends, parties, and vacations on their profiles.
Threads has effectively capitalized on this power. Upon logging into my dormant Instagram account for my dog, Rooster, I received notifications that a couple of his “friends” had posted on Threads for the first time. Threads encouraged Rooster to “claim his username” and connect with the 15 people interested in following him. By joining the app early, I secured a low user ID, which creates social pressure to register as soon as possible. As one of the first 50,000 sign-ups, I now sport a Threads hipster badge. Meta also made sharing Threads Instagram Stories effortless through a custom design, attracting idle Instagram users swiping through daily content. When signing in, Threads prompts you to follow everyone you know from Instagram, without displaying the number of people you’re following on your profile page to avoid appearing overly eager. Mark Zuckerberg’s live notifications of Threads sign-ups generated further buzz, announcing milestones of 2 million, 5 million, 10 million, 30 million, 70 million, and finally 100 million users.
Remember that “F” in FOMO: Many users aren’t necessarily excited to be on Threads; rather, they fear missing out if they don’t join. Early users have the advantage of securing the best usernames and the potential to go viral while the platform is still expanding. Followers in this new realm are up for grabs. However, the rapid growth of Threads does not guarantee long-term success. User engagement, such as the frequency and duration of site or app visits, holds greater significance. According to Abraham Yousef and Seema Shah, analysts at Sensor Tower, Threads’ engagement peaked on its first full day, July 6, but subsequently declined. They observed that average time spent and the number of sessions per user had dropped nearly 60 percent by July 10. Threads’ peak engagement was still only about 60 percent of Twitter’s and 85 percent of Instagram’s.
Success in the realm of social media can be fleeting. The title of the “fastest social network to reach 100 million active users” was once held by a website that no longer exists: Google+. It took Google+ one year and two months to achieve this milestone. Google+ shared similarities with Threads in that a powerful tech company attempted to enter an adjacent market at a time when many people were dissatisfied with an established giant. Around its launch, Google+ was described as a bold competitor to Facebook, offering features to address frequent complaints about the platform. Google+ distributed invites selectively, creating an air of exclusivity. People hurried to secure their spot on the platform due to Google’s influence and their positive experiences with popular products like Gmail. However, Google+ ultimately failed to impress and did not enjoy lasting success despite its scale.
Indulging one’s FOMO doesn’t always yield fruitful outcomes. It may prompt individuals to attend parties, but it doesn’t guarantee the parties will be enjoyable. Joining Threads can be compared to waking up with a hangover the morning after—a colleague used this analogy to describe the experience. Threads did not magically resolve all the issues with Twitter overnight, and yet, 100 million people impulsively supported Meta by joining the app, despite the company’s questionable track record concerning user privacy and misinformation. These individuals may end up regretting their decision to attend the “party” after all.
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