HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE THREADS?
The universe has been delivering me Threads references this week. By the bucketload. Well - three times…which in the social media universe counts as a certified cosmic sign:
Caught my husband doom scrolling Threads (“I love Threads,” he said - WTF?!)
A girlfriend DM’d: “Wait…is Threads linked to Insta?”
The whole room at Tuesday’s RDA workshop in Parkes asked if they should be on it
So, who am I to ignore the universe’s signs? Let’s talk about Threads.
In 2023 Meta really said, “What if Twitter…but vibes only?” and they called it Threads.
Threads exists. It’s alive. It’s allegedly thriving.
And yet, I still don’t know a single person who says, “Hold on, I need to post this on Threads.”
Beyond the ghost of strategic intent in auto-posting my Instagram content there like a polite afterthought…I never use or open Threads.
Meta launched it in that weird moment when Twitter/X was collapsing under the weight of its own Musk/Trump identity crisis. It was a softer, more progressive alternative to the angry MAGA dystopia of X: familiar enough to onboard users, wholesome enough not to scare brands, text-first enough to feel like the old days of just posting thoughts, but without a full glam photoshoot and Valencia filter.
But here’s the conundrum: Threads doesn’t yet have a core brand behaviour. We don’t actually know, like…what it does.
TikTok = mesmerised doom scrolling + viral audio
Instagram = aspiration + curated reality (aka authenticity✨)
LinkedIn = digital résumés + lifestyle cosplaying as career content
Twitter/X = real-time political chaos + dank memes
But Threads? It’s like that group chat you forget to check. You like everyone there, you just don’t remember to show up because the conversations are already happening elsewhere.
And yet, the numbers are surprisingly…good?
In mid-2025, Threads quietly crossed the 400 million monthly active users mark (up from around 350M in April). It’s also creeping up on X, which still has slightly higher daily active users - but slipping…down about 15% over the past year.
So on paper? Threads is doing just fine.
But zoom out and the picture gets wilder. Because the shifts aren’t just Threads vs X. They’re everywhere:
▶️ YouTube Shorts now racks up around 200 billion daily views
🤳🏼 TikTok remains enormous, surpassing 1.5 billion monthly active users globally
📸 Pinterest recently climbed to ~578 million MAUs and continues to grow
💼 LinkedIn reports over 1.15 billion users, with ~310M active monthly
✍🏻 The global daily-newsletter market is estimated above US$14 billion and rising
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!!
Who are these Shorts watchers?
Do I know any Pinterest power-users?
Who are the titans of Threads?
When did LinkedIn become a lifestyle platform?
Am I out of touch…or is the internet just evolving when I’m not looking?
And when do these people find all the time?
The landscape is changing faster than culture (or business) can keep up. Platforms we barely think about are suddenly giants, and platforms we normally rely on are suddenly confused. And again - where is everyone finding the time.
Which brings us to the Meta middle child dilemma:
Strategically, Threads is important for Meta. It’s a safe public-conversation layer they control, just in case X fully implodes. So it’s very handy to keep in their back pocket.
But 400 million users or not (who I’ll bloody bet are just passive users like me who simply auto-share their IG content and don’t actively engage)… surely it’s just haemorrhaging cash?
In chasing vibes over volatility, Threads hasn’t yet developed a cultural identity of its own because it’s too wholesome for breaking news, too texty for the Insta girlies and too sanitary to go viral.
It’s a platform in search of a purpose.
Will I keep auto-posting there? Sure.
Will I invest real energy there today? Probably not.
Will I be shocked if Threads becomes everyone’s favourite app in 2026? Also no.
Because whilst Meta’s middle child is still finding its place - there is opportunity for users to make the switch as early adopters, bet against Elon's X, and establish themselves as the first wave of Threads influencers.
But until then… auto-publish it is.
This piece first appeared in Excessive Consumption - a weekly dispatch on culture, branding, politics and whatever other modern internet brain rot the algorithm has emotionally assigned me that week.
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