Threads surpasses 175M users as first anniversary approaches

Threads has now more than 175 million monthly active users, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday (July 3).

Launched nearly a year ago, Threads emerged during a tumultuous period at X (previously known as Twitter), when dissatisfaction with Elon Musk’s leadership prompted many users to find alternatives.

In a statement on Threads, Zuckerberg wrote: “Threads now has more than 175M monthly actives. What a year.”

In February, he reported that Threads had over 130 million monthly active users, and by April, there were 150 million active users. However, this figure provides a limited view of Threads’ popularity, as the platform has not revealed vital metrics such as daily active user count and average time spent per user. The missing details imply that Threads still has users that are dropping off.

The new metric comes as Musk recently stated that his platform now has 600 million monthly active users, with half of them using the platform daily. It’s important to note that the Tesla billionaire did not specify whether this figure includes automated accounts or spam bots. As of February this year, X had 27 million daily active users of its mobile app in the United States, a reduction of 18 per cent from the previous 12 months, according to research from market intelligence company Sensor Tower.

𝕏 has 600 million monthly active users, about half of which use the platform every day

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2024

Threads first launched with several missing features, but most have now been rolled out. The platform includes a web version, built-in translation, chronological search, easy account switching, tags, an API, and even integration with the Fediverse.

How to get custom icons for Threads’ first anniversary

In celebration of Threads’ first anniversary, Meta has updated the Threads mobile app to include custom icons. Users now have a choice of five new icons in addition to the default one. A new icon will become available daily and remain accessible until July 12, 2024. These icons happen to have been created by members of the Threads community.

Here’s how to change your icon in the Threads app:

1. Open the Threads app.
2. Tap on the ‘Your Profile’ tab.
3. Tap the birthday cake icon at the top of the screen.
4. Select from the available icons.

Make sure your device has the latest version of the Threads app installed to use the custom icons. Threads is available and free on the App Store and requires an iPhone running iOS 15.1 or higher.

Featured image: Canva