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The battle between Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads is heating up once again. After months of relative silence, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reignited the app war, confidently suggesting that Threads could soon surpass X in both relevance and scale.
Speaking during Meta’s recent earnings call, Zuckerberg revealed that Threads now boasts over 175 million monthly active users, a massive milestone for an app that launched just one year ago.
In a not-so-subtle jab at X, Zuckerberg declared, “I think Threads has a good shot at being the next app to reach 1 billion users.”
Meta Ramps Up Threads Features, Musk’s X Faces Decline
Threads has steadily rolled out new features, improved algorithmic feeds, and tighter Instagram integration to boost engagement. Meanwhile, X has faced challenges under Musk’s leadership, including declining ad revenue, controversial changes, and user backlash over moderation and policy shifts.
Zuckerberg’s comments suggest that Meta views Threads not just as a Twitter clone, but as a long-term social platform contender.
“People want a positive public space for conversation,” he emphasized, subtly critiquing the atmosphere on X.
What’s Driving Threads to Greatness
Several factors have fueled Threads’ explosive growth:
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Instagram integration: Easy onboarding and cross-posting for its massive user base.
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Frequent feature updates: Threads has added keyword search, trending topics, and better post visibility tools.
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Stable brand perception: While X undergoes rebranding chaos, Threads appears more stable and appealing to advertisers.
Meanwhile, X is reportedly losing traffic and ad partners, and its once-dominant role in real-time news and commentary is being tested by alternatives like Threads, BlueSky, and even Reddit.
Can Meta Become The Absolute Social Media Royalty?
The Threads vs X rivalry might be more than an app showdown. With Zuckerberg focusing on growth and civility, and Musk betting on free speech absolutism, the winner could shape the future of online discourse. Musk also pushed a kid-friendly Grok version last week, maybe to appeal to an audience inclining towards Meta.
If Threads continues its upward trajectory, it may soon eclipse X as the go-to platform for public conversations. Which will bring Meta one step closer to owning the next billion-user social app.
Threads vs X: A Glimpse At the Origins
In July 2023, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta started rolling out Threads in most countries. It also launched in European Union countries later that year. The launch came months after Musk bought Twitter in October 2022. This caused a lot of people to leave the site and go to other platforms after Musk changed the name of the site to “X” and made big modifications to how it verifies users, moderates content, and other features.
After the 2024 presidential election, when Donald Trump became president again and asked Musk to run the Department of Government Efficiency, X’s usage continued to drop. However, it’s not clear how much of this is because of Musk’s political activity. Recent developments leave many to wonder if Musk’s acquisition of Twitter was even a smart move to begin with.
