Threads has lost more than half its users since the app launched, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, told staff on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Meta's text-based app, designed to compete with Twitter, reached 100 million users in just five days — beating ChatGPT's time to reach the same milestone.
Yet the tech conglomerate is struggling to retain the majority of them.
"Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around," Zuckerberg said, Reuters reported. "We're not there yet."
The Meta CEO added that he considered this drop to be "normal" and said things will get better as Threads adds more features, Reuters reported.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said earlier this month that Threads is working on "obvious missing features" such as trending topics, hashtags, translations, the ability to view likes, and a "following" feed that only shows posts from users you know.
But Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, added that Meta is also working on "retention-driving hooks" to encourage users to return to the app, such as "making sure people who are on the Instagram app can see important Threads," Reuters reported.
That suggests there could be even more of a crossover with the photo-sharing app, which was essential in Threads' rapid expansion since users sign up via their Instagram accounts.
Threads launched just days after Elon Musk annoyed many Twitter users by setting temporary limits on viewing tweets. Adding more features to Threads could help Meta capitalize on further discontent around Twitter as it rebrands to X.
Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
