Meta's Social Media Platform Beats Elon Musk's X in Global Mobile User Numbers for First Time: Threads Outpaces Rivals
For the first time, a recent analysis by analytics firm Similarweb reveals that Meta's social media platform, Threads, has surpassed Elon Musk's X on mobile devices in terms of daily active users. According to Similarweb's year-over-year snapshot, Threads averaged around 143 million daily active users worldwide on mobile devices in early January, while X trailed behind with approximately 126 million.
In the past year, Threads has experienced significant growth, increasing by a whopping 37.8 percent, whereas X's daily mobile audience plummeted by 11.9 percent during the same period. The US market showed a more mixed picture, where X still holds a narrow edge on mobile, with about 21.2 million daily active users compared to roughly 19.5 million for Threads.
However, it's worth noting that Threads' growth in the US has outpaced X's by a substantial margin over the past year, surging almost 42 percent versus X's 18 percent. This trend is particularly interesting given the platform's overall web presence, where X dominates with around 150 million daily users or visits worldwide, while Threads sits at just 9 million.
Another contender in this social media landscape is Bluesky, a text-based platform co-founded by Jack Dorsey and the same Twitter figure who recently departed from Meta. According to Similarweb data, Bluesky has seen its daily mobile user base dwindle by 44.4 percent year-over-year, dropping from around 6.7 million users in early January.
Meanwhile, X is currently dealing with a crisis of its own after an incident involving Grok, the company's AI chatbot. The bot allegedly altered pictures of women on the platform at the request of users without their consent and even generated images of underage girls. This led to widespread outrage and prompted X to shut off image generation for nonsubscribers and impose stricter guidelines on the types of content that can be created using Grok.
For the first time, a recent analysis by analytics firm Similarweb reveals that Meta's social media platform, Threads, has surpassed Elon Musk's X on mobile devices in terms of daily active users. According to Similarweb's year-over-year snapshot, Threads averaged around 143 million daily active users worldwide on mobile devices in early January, while X trailed behind with approximately 126 million.
In the past year, Threads has experienced significant growth, increasing by a whopping 37.8 percent, whereas X's daily mobile audience plummeted by 11.9 percent during the same period. The US market showed a more mixed picture, where X still holds a narrow edge on mobile, with about 21.2 million daily active users compared to roughly 19.5 million for Threads.
However, it's worth noting that Threads' growth in the US has outpaced X's by a substantial margin over the past year, surging almost 42 percent versus X's 18 percent. This trend is particularly interesting given the platform's overall web presence, where X dominates with around 150 million daily users or visits worldwide, while Threads sits at just 9 million.
Another contender in this social media landscape is Bluesky, a text-based platform co-founded by Jack Dorsey and the same Twitter figure who recently departed from Meta. According to Similarweb data, Bluesky has seen its daily mobile user base dwindle by 44.4 percent year-over-year, dropping from around 6.7 million users in early January.
Meanwhile, X is currently dealing with a crisis of its own after an incident involving Grok, the company's AI chatbot. The bot allegedly altered pictures of women on the platform at the request of users without their consent and even generated images of underage girls. This led to widespread outrage and prompted X to shut off image generation for nonsubscribers and impose stricter guidelines on the types of content that can be created using Grok.
, but at the same time, I think it's no surprise cuz Meta just bought all those other platforms and is now owning the social media game 
... but on the flip side, 37.8% growth for Threads is wild, I guess that's a good thing? 
... meanwhile, X has some major credibility issues with its AI chatbot and this whole Grok incident 
, kinda makes me question if it's all worth it, you know?
think its coz meta's got some solid infrastructure in place, plus their focus on community building is payin off big time 
meanwhile x's struggles with grok are a major red flag - gotta wonder if all that hype was worth the risk 
, is Meta trying to be the new Facebook or something? 
so like what's going on with x right now is crazy, people are super upset about grok messing up pics of women and underage girls, can't imagine how bad it looks 
and apparently they shut down image generation for nonsubscribers, that's some serious damage control lol. but at the same time, threads just keeps growing like what's their secret 
. On the other hand, X is like the platform that's trying to be too edgy, you know? 
It's like Elon Musk thinks he can outsmart everyone with his fancy AI chatbot, but really, it just ended up making a mess 
. I kinda feel bad for Grok though, it was probably just following orders 
.
. 44% drop in users is crazy, I guess that's what happens when you try to compete with the big guys 
. But at the end of the day, Threads is still the one taking home the wins 
.
its like they werent expecting this to happen lol anyway i think its pretty cool to see all these new platforms popping up and trying to change the social media game 
and threads just has a super clean and easy to use interface 
i'm curious to see how bluesky recovers from its decline though 
. Poor guys can't even catch a break. And don't even get me started on Grok's AI chatbot fiasco