Threads web app could launch this week — report
Meta Platforms plans to launch a web version of its Threads early this week, Wall Street Journal reports.
A web-based version of Instagram’s Twitter/X rival has been a much-requested feature among users, who have also lamented the lack of other essential functions.
In early August 2023, around a month after Threads launched, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would deliver a web version and add a proper search function “in the next few weeks”.
While viewing Threads posts on a computer is currently possible, users cannot interact with them.
Attempting to do so will generate a QR code that users must scan with their smartphone to download the mobile app.
Last week, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri posted that an early web version had been in testing for a “week or two”.
However, Mosseri said it still needed some work before rolling out to the general public.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the launch plans are not set in stone and could change.
While the Threads mobile app saw impressive adoption rates in the early days after its launch, active users plummeted in the weeks that followed.
According to Internet traffic analysis site Similarweb, daily active users on the Threads Android app plunged 79% from a peak of 49.3 million on 7 July 2023 to 10.3 million by 7 August 2023.
Over the same period, the average time users spent on the app declined from 14 minutes to three minutes per day.
The graphs below from Similarweb show the surge and decline of Threads users and usage in the first month after its launch and how its users and usage compare.
Similarweb attributed the drop to Threads lacking much of the intriguing content that Twitter/X offered, as well as its missing features.
“Threads may still have a better chance of becoming ‘the new Twitter’ than some other alternatives, but it needs to provide its users with more reasons to keep coming back,” Similarweb said.
A web-based version could be the start of a Threads turnaround, but the gains could be limited.
Mobile apps account for the largest share of Twitter users, and given Threads’ format, it will likely be the same for Meta Platforms’ product.
An estimated 80% of users on Twitter access the platform via the Android or iOS mobile apps.
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