Last month, Instagram creator Meta launched its Twitter rival app, Threads. As millions of users rushed to try the new platform, which can be accessed through the Instagram app, an unaffiliated work app, of the same name, suddenly saw a huge spike in its visitors, reaching 10 million users in two weeks.
Threads.com, a competitor of Slack, which has nothing to do with Meta's new social network platform other than sharing the same name, recorded an increase in its traffic by 12,148%, from 88,011 monthly visits to over 10.78 million in the first two weeks since Threads.net was launched, according to an analysis of SimilarWeb data.
Moreover, the global website ranking of Threads.com exponentially increased from 545,741 to 5,813 during that time, according to a study conducted by small business advice company Venture Smarter. Its Google Play profile also showed that downloads have increased by over one million last month, up from 2,600 average downloads per month. The largest increase was seen on 6 July, when over 2.5 million visitors headed to the website.
Interestingly, the work communication app, Threads.com was founded by three former Meta employees, Jon McCord, Mark Rich, and Rousseau Kazi.
The work app has hit the jackpot for sharing the name with Meta’s new social network, says Jon Morgan, CEO and editor-in-chief of Venture Smarter. “While some may argue that the traffic is irrelevant, as it was meant for the social network, analysis of the company’s app page has shown that the accidental traffic surge has resulted in millions of new downloads and a huge awareness boost of the work tool, surely boosting the company’s value and online rankings overnight,” Morgan added in a press statement.
He also pointed out that this accidental misdirection highlights the importance of securing all domains that users may use to find your business, or you could benefit the wrong company.
In just four hours since its launch on 5 July, Meta’s Threads gained over 5 million users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced. However, after four weeks, Threads is currently struggling to retain them. According to a Mint report, the social media app has lost more than half of its users since its launch. However, Zuckerberg seems to be confident and said the decrease is “normal” and retention would improve when new features are introduced.
