Waving a decisive goodbye to an idyllic user retention rate, Meta Platforms struggles to keep their newly introduced Twitter competitor, Threads, from becoming a ghost town.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the swift user desertion from Threads during an internal assembly, providing insights on Meta’s game plan to navigate through this digital quagmire.
A rocky start for Threads
The text-based platform Threads was unveiled amidst great anticipation, boasting a roster of more than 100 million eager users at the onset.
However, the app suffered a drop-off of over half of its user base in the weeks that followed its much-hyped launch, leaving Zuckerberg and his team in an unfavorable position.
But not all hope is lost. Despite the declining numbers, Zuckerberg maintains an optimistic front, considering the drop-off as a typical ebb in the user retention tide.
Indeed, not every user will find Threads to be their digital home, but the mass exodus is undoubtedly more than what Meta had bargained for. The retention rate, Zuckerberg affirmed, is decent, albeit not picture-perfect.
Their goal, however, is far more ambitious: to not just lure in users but to create a digital habitat that retains at least half of the initially registered folks, an objective that still remains a distant dream.
Crafting a user retention strategy
Instead of drowning in despair over the declining user base, Meta is focusing on crafting strategies to enhance retention. Zuckerberg believes that this can be achieved by bolstering the Threads app with an array of novel features.
Adding a desktop version and enhancing search functionality are a few of the proposed improvements that could make Threads more appealing and, in turn, increase user stickiness.
In the words of Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, they plan to implement more ‘retention-driving hooks.’ This includes an integration with the Instagram app, where Instagram users could view essential Threads.
By cross-pollinating these two platforms, they aim to draw Instagram users to Threads, potentially reversing the drop-off trend.
Meta’s roadmap ahead
Despite the challenging situation, Meta isn’t just about Threads. While working on user retention strategies, the tech giant continues to make significant strides in other areas.
The recent earnings call that unveiled promising revenue growth forecasts managed to charm the investors, leading to an 8% increase in Meta’s shares.
The forecast served as a silver lining amidst the skepticism surrounding the company’s hefty investment in the metaverse last year when ad sales experienced a downturn.
Zuckerberg emphasized the need for Meta to stay on track with augmented and virtual reality technologies, anticipating the mainstream adoption of metaverse technologies to kick in by the 2030s.
Staying ahead of the curve and commencing investment early is crucial, particularly when competing with tech juggernauts such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, who bring years of experience in crafting operating systems.
Alongside the metaverse strides, Meta also launched an AI model, Llama 2, freely accessible for commercial use to any developer servicing under 700 million users.
The model garnered more than 150,000 download requests within a week of its release, a success story that contrasts starkly with Threads.
The road ahead for Meta and its Threads platform is undoubtedly rocky, marked by strong winds of user drop-offs and the weight of escalating expectations.
