Andrew Hutchinson
Source: www.socialmediatoday.com, August 2024
Amid broader discussion about the relative popularity (or not) of Threads versus Elon Musk’s X project, I present to you the latest app download charts, covering the month of July 2024.
As you can see in this listing, sourced from app analytics provider AppFigures, Meta continues to dominate the overall listings, with Instagram being the most downloaded app for the month, while Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and Messenger all made the top 10.
Which is pretty much the norm. Meta always has around four or five apps in the top downloads listing, though the steady performance of Threads here is worthy of note.
For context, based on previous reports from AppFigures, Threads was:
- The 8th most downloaded app in June 2024
- Out of the top 10 most downloaded apps in May
- The 10th most downloaded app in April
- The 6th most downloaded app in March
- The 8th most downloaded app in February
- The 8th most downloaded app in January
- The 6th most downloaded app in December 2023
Threads wasn’t listed in the top 10 downloads for any other month since its launch, except in July 2023, the month that Threads was first released, and it rocketed to the top of the download charts.
And now, a year later, Threads has come in at 7th in July this year.
So on balance, Threads does seem to be gaining traction over time, as more people continue to download the app.
X, of course, is not listed here, though AppFigures has previously reported that Threads downloads are outpacing X downloads by a significant margin.
Of course, downloads and active users are two wholly different measurements, and at present, X still has a lot more users than Threads does.
But as a trend, the data continues to indicate rising interest in Threads, while X is losing users in some regions.
Does that mean that Threads is on track to supplant X?
Well, on a long enough timeline, sure, Threads is pacing, at present, to have more actives than X at some stage. But that timeline is still years out, and that’s also banking on the fact that Threads will continues to be downloaded at the same rates.
As a newer app, it makes sense that Threads would see more downloads, as people come to try it out. But then again, Instagram and Facebook are much older, and they’re still seeing significant attention, based on this listing.
So really, if X was gaining traction, it should be listed here too. The fact that it’s not is a concerning sign, though X fans will point out that X is still killing it in the “News” category on iOS, where it’s the most downloaded news app, beating out a range of legacy news providers.
But that’s an utter misnomer.
X is not a “News” app, it’s a social media platform, and X is only listed as a news tool on iOS because former Twitter management wanted to avoid comparison to Facebook in the social media category.
Interestingly, X can’t actually change its designation to “News” on the Google Play Store as well, because it’s primarily reliant on user-generated content, and as such, doesn’t qualify under Google’s parameters as a news provider. Which seems like a fair measure in this respect, but as I’ve noted previously, X is not a News app, and the claim that it’s the leading news provider is based on an entirely false premise.
I mean, it’s competing with news apps with around a tenth, or less, of its active user count. So that’s a nothing argument.
Essentially, the data story for Threads does show that it is gaining traction over time. But if you wanted a better indication of how quickly it’s gaining, this chart, from SimilarWeb, is probably the best overall indicator.
Threads is gaining, but it’ll still take a long time to overtake X at its current growth rates.
That could change quickly, as Elon continues to make divisive comments, and X might also struggle to stay in business, as advertisers keep pulling out. But the bottom line is that yes, Threads is doing well, in relative terms. But it’s still got a way to go to catch up to X.
