Meta, the parent company of Instagram, happily shared that Instagram Threads is now enjoyed by over 130 million people every month, according to the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. This marks a significant increase of 30 million users from the previous quarter.
Zuckerberg expressed his satisfaction with the steady growth of Threads, a text-based social networking app that emerged after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022. The app competes with various projects like Bluesky, Mastodon, Nostr, Post, Spill, and others in the social media landscape.
Despite Threads experiencing rapid growth, Zuckerberg acknowledged that it gained popularity faster than Meta was prepared for. He mentioned, “Threads now has more people actively using it today than it did during its initial launch peak,” emphasizing its potential for significant success.
In the previous quarter, Zuckerberg had high hopes for Threads, stating that he believed the app had a good chance of reaching 1 billion users within a few years. During that time, Threads already had over 100 million monthly active users.
Meta’s entire family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, collectively reached 3.19 billion people daily in the fourth quarter, up from 3.14 billion in the previous quarter. Monthly active users also increased to 3.98 billion from 3.96 billion.
Recent data from app intelligence provider Appfigures revealed that Threads tripled its downloads in December, making it the sixth most downloaded app across the Apple App Store and Google Play. In contrast, X, formerly known as Twitter, struggled with its rebranding and ranked 36th.
Initially launched with a record-breaking 100 million registered users within the first five days in July, Threads faced a slowdown in interest during the fall. However, Meta’s strategic move to promote Threads’ viral posts to Facebook users helped revive its growth, securing its position among the top 10 most downloaded apps globally in December.
Addressing concerns raised during Threads’ decline, Zuckerberg reassured that the app is far from being declared dead. According to a third-party tracker, Threads is estimated to have around 160 million total users.
Regarding Meta’s financial performance, the company reported $40.1 billion in revenue for the quarter ending December 2023, exceeding analysts’ estimates. Earnings stood at $5.33 per share, surpassing the expected $4.96. Net income reached $14.02 billion, and the total revenue for the full year 2023 amounted to $134.90 billion.
In an additional positive move, Meta announced its first-ever cash dividend of $0.50 per share, scheduled to be paid to Meta’s shareholders in March.
