Despite attracting more than 10 million users to the site in the first seven hours of its release, Meta‘s launch of Threads failed to rank as one of the top consumer moments of 2023 in a new report.
The launch of Threads, Meta’s newest social media platform, in July aimed to capitalise on X’s (formerly Twitter) tough year and increasingly disenfranchised audience. However, a report by brand tracking company Tracksuit, which polled users in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK, found the launch attracted just 1% of respondents in each of the four markets.
The ranking is in line with data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which found engagement on the Threads app has since dropped by 70%, as reported by Forbes.
Mikayla Hopkins, head of marketing at Tracksuit, told Mediaweek: “The social media landscape experienced major shifts this year with Instagram trying to capitalise on Twitter’s rebrand and grab market share by introducing Threads. Despite the big changes for both brands, X and Threads have struggled to resonate with users. Tracksuit’s data shows relatively low levels of awareness and consumer usage since their introduction.
“While the Twitter to X rebrand came under scrutiny for a number of reasons, it’s the apparent disregard of Twitter’s long standing brand salience that has hindered user backing. Not many brands can claim their brand language has entered the common vernacular as a verb, like ‘tweeting’. Twitter has been around for 17 years, and many users have sentimental attachments to the brand. Transitioning that level of support was never going to be easy. With Threads, the heart of the problem lies in an audience disconnect. Those who use the Instagram platform are traditionally there for the aesthetically led image and video feeds. A text based feature doesn’t feel true to that.
“Brands finding it difficult to pique users’ attention need to lean into their brand salience and target audiences. Having a clear understanding of consumer sentiment towards your brand, and more importantly, how to resonate with them, is essential to building long term brand health and loyalty.”
Threads ranked well below a host of other significant cultural moments including The Barbie movie, Taylor Swift and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Barbie MovieThe report, surveyed close to 20,000 respondents across to determine the Barbie movie, Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour and the FIFA Women’s World Cup, were the top three entertainment and consumer events of 2023 across the four markets.
In Australia, the Barbie movie ranked as one of the top events in 2023 at 21%. Women or those aged between 18–34-years-old, were significantly more likely to have seen or heard about Barbie, according to the data.
Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour, including her newly released film of the concert, had 14% of respondents had heard and/or seen of it this year. Much like Barbie; women or those aged between 18–34-years were significantly more likely to have seen or heard about Swift’s world tour (and film), the data reported.
In Australia and New Zealand, sporting events reigned supreme. The Fifa Women’s World Cup won 32% of respondents’ attention as the nation rallied around the Matildas as they made their way to the , while in NZ it captured 17%. The Rugby World Cup had a similar impact, with 38% of Kiwi respondents throwing their support behind the All Blacks and defining it as a top entertainment and consumer event of 2023, in contrast to 7% of Aussies.
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