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Threads has 275 million monthly active users. Bluesky has now 15 million total users (how many active?) Mastodon monthly active usage has dropped below 1 mill

by nabla9 2y ago

Threads has 275 million monthly active users. Bluesky has now 15 million total users (how many active?) Mastodon monthly active usage has dropped below 1 million.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
paulpauper 2y ago
Many of these alternatives are piggybacking off the parent site. Google at pone point made anyone with a Gmail account a default user for its own social network.
verdverm 2y ago
It's more about the vision and momentum Threads is not trying to be a Twitter replacement and is another brand in the Zuck conglomerate What makes Bluesky different to me is ATProto and the possibilities for a new social media fabric, that they learned from some difficulties with ActivityPub to build something better https://atproto.com https://atproto.com
- andrewshadura 2y ago
  The problem with atproto is that it's not better.
MisterBastahrd 2y ago
Everyone who has an Instagram account is technically a Threads user as far as I can tell.
- daedrdev 2y ago
  Is instagram usage counted in active threads users? I doubt it
  - chimeracoder 2y ago
    > Is instagram usage counted in active threads users? I doubt it It is if they have a Threads account and interact with any Threads content on the Instagram app, which is extremely easy to do even accidentally, because they shove it into the Instagram feed and make it look like Instagram content. I would not be surprised if a large chunk - maybe even the majority - of "Threads users" interact with it exclusively through the Instagram app, with many of them not even fully aware that it's nominally a separate product.
    - zimpenfish 2y ago
      > they shove it into the Instagram feed and make it look like Instagram content. And also into your notifications now.
- jsheard 2y ago
  They probably are juicing the numbers that way, but the dedicated Threads app is pretty high on the app store charts so evidently people are going out of their way to get it. YMMV depending on your region but my Play Store "social" chart is currently showing Bluesky at #1, then TikTok, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, X, and Reddit at #7.
  - mikeyouse 2y ago
    They are definitely “growth hacking” as much as possible - I regularly would see 1/3 of a Threads comment in my FB and IG feed and when you click to expand it takes you to the App Store to download the Threads app. I’m not interested so I just back out but I’m sure it works wonders to get their numbers up.
- vitorgrs 2y ago
  Nop. You need to download Threads app and create an account (using your Instagram). Of course Instagram helps, because they keep showing Threads posts on Instagram, notifications, etc, so people download and create an account, but is not automatic.
micromacrofoot 2y ago
is that Threads, or is that Instagram and Threads? Kind of a cheat without calling that out
lynndotpy 2y ago
I believe Threads active users are artificially conflated with Instagram and Facebook. In all my circles, I don't know anyone who uses Threads
- cogman10 2y ago
  That's my guess. By having either of those accounts you automatically got a threads account.
  - changing1999 2y ago
    True. But you don't become an active monthly user. Unless there are some shenanigans happening, which is highly likely. I think I visited Threads by accident several times by clicking posts in IG, that were apparently Threads posts embedded directly into IG as a growth hack (my speculation).
  - kiitos 2y ago
    You have to create a Threads account explicitly, it's not automatic from an Instagram or Facebook account.
- criley2 2y ago
  In all my circles, I don't know a single "X" user. Not even one. Anecdotes are funny like that. Facebook monthly active users: >3 billion Instagram monthly active users: >2 billion Threads monthly active users: ~275 million If they're cheating, they're doing a poor job of it.
  - emidoots 2y ago
    When you post on Instagram, there are opt-out features that will 'automatically share to your Threads account too' and you can see Threads notifications in the Instagram app and such .. so I think it's reasonable to assume they are leveraging the Instagram user-base a bit.
    - changing1999 2y ago
moralestapia 2y ago
X is at 600 million MAU, for reference. Edit: Thanks @JumpCrisscross.
- moogly 2y ago
  And minus bots?
  - moralestapia 2y ago
    No idea but bots are not exclusive to X.
    - moogly 2y ago
      Nope, but I'd wager the share is way higher than on the other services as of right now.
      - moralestapia 2y ago
        Hmm ... yeah but that's wandering into "the supposition of a supposition" territory.
    - lavezzi 2y ago
      But they are exclusively the majority on X
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  600mm*
- threeseed 2y ago
  The trend is what is important. Threads is growing at 1m new users a day. And at least here in Australia, X is ranked #69 on the App Store. Threads #2. Year from now, Threads could well be bigger.
  - redox99 2y ago
frgtpsswrdlame 2y ago
Yeah but what made Twitter twitter wasn't really the usercount, it was the mix of established voices and complete randos mixing. If the journalists and economists and politicians go to Bluesky, it will win. I definitely don't think that's a given but it seems much more plausible now than it did a few months ago.
- Gigachad 2y ago
  Bluesky is increasingly getting that way. Every time I check it this week I'm seeing new content from recognizable people. I think at some point there will be a tipping point where Bluesky will have more content and just win outside of alt right circles.
  - briandear 2y ago
    Until they start censoring. Some orgs (like Guardian,) don’t like getting fact checked in real time. Old Twitter is far worse than new Twitter. In the recent old days, you’d get suspended for even debating Covid vaccine safety. Couldn’t even debate it! They even colluded with the U.S. government to silence dissent. Crazy.
    - blitzar 2y ago
      You are correct, that was a disgraceful thing for thing for the Trump 1.0 administration to do.
- spacebanana7 2y ago
  Kim Kardashian is much more important to a social network than any journalist, politician or economist. Perhaps more so than all of them combined. There are many interest verticals on Twitter like politics, sports, celebrity, influencer, porn etc.
rvz 2y ago
> Bluesky has now 15 million total users (how many active?) That is a very good question. One of the Bluesky developers gave the figure at around 2.25M DAUs [0] This chart shows that they now have 3.74M DAUs and have 9.3M MAUs [1] Mastodon does not give their DAUs, but their MAUs are down to less than 1M users. [2] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41953421 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41953421 [1] https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.dev/index.html https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.d... [2] https://joinmastodon.org/servers https://joinmastodon.org/servers
threeseed 2y ago
Threads is closer to 300m now. According to Mosseri it is now adding 1m new users a day.
- jyxent 2y ago
  Bluesky has also added 1m new users for each of the past 2 days.
anonymousiam 2y ago
You forgot to list one: X/Twitter has over 500 million monthly active users.
- lavezzi 2y ago
  480 million of those are likely bots
  - an_guy 2y ago
    Do you have any source for that statement?
Retr0id 2y ago
The 15 million figure is several hours out of date, it's currently over 17m. (https://bsky.jazco.dev/stats https://bsky.jazco.dev/stats) 9.4m active this month (and counting), according to https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.dev/index.html https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.d...
hbn 2y ago
Threads artificially juicing their numbers with Instagram integration. I can't remember what it was but recently when posting to Instagram it offered me an option to enable all my posts to automatically cross-post to Threads, very possibly defaulted to "on" too.
bakugo 2y ago
I literally forget Threads exists for months at a time. Nobody I know uses it, or has even acknowledged its existence. I see people on other social media talking about their Bluesky and Mastodon accounts and directing people there, but I have never seen anyone do it for Threads. I have never seen anyone share a link to Threads, I don't even remember what its domain name is. I have never seen Threads included in those little sets of social media icon links that all brand websites have. I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe Threads has actual users who care about it and aren't just clueless Facebook/Instagram users who were not-so-subtly encouraged to also use Threads by those apps.
pityJuke 2y ago
Threads is big in the same way that Facebook is big. No juice, as they say.

by nabla9 2y ago

Threads has 275 million monthly active users. Bluesky has now 15 million total users (how many active?) Mastodon monthly active usage has dropped below 1 million.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

paulpauper 2y ago

Many of these alternatives are piggybacking off the parent site. Google at pone point made anyone with a Gmail account a default user for its own social network.

verdverm 2y ago

It's more about the vision and momentum Threads is not trying to be a Twitter replacement and is another brand in the Zuck conglomerate What makes Bluesky different to me is ATProto and the possibilities for a new social media fabric, that they learned from some difficulties with ActivityPub to build something better https://atproto.com https://atproto.com

andrewshadura 2y ago
The problem with atproto is that it's not better.

MisterBastahrd 2y ago

Everyone who has an Instagram account is technically a Threads user as far as I can tell.

daedrdev 2y ago
Is instagram usage counted in active threads users? I doubt it
- chimeracoder 2y ago
  > Is instagram usage counted in active threads users? I doubt it It is if they have a Threads account and interact with any Threads content on the Instagram app, which is extremely easy to do even accidentally, because they shove it into the Instagram feed and make it look like Instagram content. I would not be surprised if a large chunk - maybe even the majority - of "Threads users" interact with it exclusively through the Instagram app, with many of them not even fully aware that it's nominally a separate product.
  - zimpenfish 2y ago
    > they shove it into the Instagram feed and make it look like Instagram content. And also into your notifications now.
jsheard 2y ago
They probably are juicing the numbers that way, but the dedicated Threads app is pretty high on the app store charts so evidently people are going out of their way to get it. YMMV depending on your region but my Play Store "social" chart is currently showing Bluesky at #1, then TikTok, Threads, Instagram, Facebook, X, and Reddit at #7.
- mikeyouse 2y ago
  They are definitely “growth hacking” as much as possible - I regularly would see 1/3 of a Threads comment in my FB and IG feed and when you click to expand it takes you to the App Store to download the Threads app. I’m not interested so I just back out but I’m sure it works wonders to get their numbers up.
vitorgrs 2y ago
Nop. You need to download Threads app and create an account (using your Instagram). Of course Instagram helps, because they keep showing Threads posts on Instagram, notifications, etc, so people download and create an account, but is not automatic.

micromacrofoot 2y ago

is that Threads, or is that Instagram and Threads? Kind of a cheat without calling that out

lynndotpy 2y ago

I believe Threads active users are artificially conflated with Instagram and Facebook. In all my circles, I don't know anyone who uses Threads

cogman10 2y ago
That's my guess. By having either of those accounts you automatically got a threads account.
- changing1999 2y ago
  True. But you don't become an active monthly user. Unless there are some shenanigans happening, which is highly likely. I think I visited Threads by accident several times by clicking posts in IG, that were apparently Threads posts embedded directly into IG as a growth hack (my speculation).
- kiitos 2y ago
  You have to create a Threads account explicitly, it's not automatic from an Instagram or Facebook account.
criley2 2y ago
In all my circles, I don't know a single "X" user. Not even one. Anecdotes are funny like that. Facebook monthly active users: >3 billion Instagram monthly active users: >2 billion Threads monthly active users: ~275 million If they're cheating, they're doing a poor job of it.
- emidoots 2y ago
  When you post on Instagram, there are opt-out features that will 'automatically share to your Threads account too' and you can see Threads notifications in the Instagram app and such .. so I think it's reasonable to assume they are leveraging the Instagram user-base a bit.
  - changing1999 2y ago

moralestapia 2y ago

X is at 600 million MAU, for reference. Edit: Thanks @JumpCrisscross.

moogly 2y ago
And minus bots?
- moralestapia 2y ago
  No idea but bots are not exclusive to X.
  - moogly 2y ago
    Nope, but I'd wager the share is way higher than on the other services as of right now.
    - moralestapia 2y ago
      Hmm ... yeah but that's wandering into "the supposition of a supposition" territory.
  - lavezzi 2y ago
    But they are exclusively the majority on X
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
600mm*
threeseed 2y ago
The trend is what is important. Threads is growing at 1m new users a day. And at least here in Australia, X is ranked #69 on the App Store. Threads #2. Year from now, Threads could well be bigger.
- redox99 2y ago

frgtpsswrdlame 2y ago

Yeah but what made Twitter twitter wasn't really the usercount, it was the mix of established voices and complete randos mixing. If the journalists and economists and politicians go to Bluesky, it will win. I definitely don't think that's a given but it seems much more plausible now than it did a few months ago.

Gigachad 2y ago
Bluesky is increasingly getting that way. Every time I check it this week I'm seeing new content from recognizable people. I think at some point there will be a tipping point where Bluesky will have more content and just win outside of alt right circles.
- briandear 2y ago
  Until they start censoring. Some orgs (like Guardian,) don’t like getting fact checked in real time. Old Twitter is far worse than new Twitter. In the recent old days, you’d get suspended for even debating Covid vaccine safety. Couldn’t even debate it! They even colluded with the U.S. government to silence dissent. Crazy.
  - blitzar 2y ago
    You are correct, that was a disgraceful thing for thing for the Trump 1.0 administration to do.
spacebanana7 2y ago
Kim Kardashian is much more important to a social network than any journalist, politician or economist. Perhaps more so than all of them combined. There are many interest verticals on Twitter like politics, sports, celebrity, influencer, porn etc.

rvz 2y ago

> Bluesky has now 15 million total users (how many active?) That is a very good question. One of the Bluesky developers gave the figure at around 2.25M DAUs [0] This chart shows that they now have 3.74M DAUs and have 9.3M MAUs [1] Mastodon does not give their DAUs, but their MAUs are down to less than 1M users. [2] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41953421 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41953421 [1] https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.dev/index.html https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.d... [2] https://joinmastodon.org/servers https://joinmastodon.org/servers

threeseed 2y ago

Threads is closer to 300m now. According to Mosseri it is now adding 1m new users a day.

jyxent 2y ago
Bluesky has also added 1m new users for each of the past 2 days.

anonymousiam 2y ago

You forgot to list one: X/Twitter has over 500 million monthly active users.

lavezzi 2y ago
480 million of those are likely bots
- an_guy 2y ago
  Do you have any source for that statement?

Retr0id 2y ago

The 15 million figure is several hours out of date, it's currently over 17m. (https://bsky.jazco.dev/stats https://bsky.jazco.dev/stats) 9.4m active this month (and counting), according to https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.dev/index.html https://bskycharts.edavis.dev/edavis.dev/bskycharts.edavis.d...

hbn 2y ago

Threads artificially juicing their numbers with Instagram integration. I can't remember what it was but recently when posting to Instagram it offered me an option to enable all my posts to automatically cross-post to Threads, very possibly defaulted to "on" too.

bakugo 2y ago

I literally forget Threads exists for months at a time. Nobody I know uses it, or has even acknowledged its existence. I see people on other social media talking about their Bluesky and Mastodon accounts and directing people there, but I have never seen anyone do it for Threads. I have never seen anyone share a link to Threads, I don't even remember what its domain name is. I have never seen Threads included in those little sets of social media icon links that all brand websites have. I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe Threads has actual users who care about it and aren't just clueless Facebook/Instagram users who were not-so-subtly encouraged to also use Threads by those apps.

pityJuke 2y ago

Threads is big in the same way that Facebook is big. No juice, as they say.