For most people around the world, Meta’s text-based social network Threads is a platform that they haven’t thought of for months. But for Liu, a d

MIT Technology Review

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2024-04-02 13:00:02

For most people around the world, Meta’s text-based social network Threads is a platform that they haven’t thought of for months. But for Liu, a design professional in Taipei, it’s where she’s receiving unprecedented attention.

“My casual posts often receive a large number of reposts now. It used to only happen every few months on Twitter, but it’s happening every few weeks or even days on Threads,” says Liu, who has used Twitter (now renamed X) for more than eight years and has posted on Threads since January. She asked MIT Technology Review to use only her last name for privacy reasons.

She’s not the only person feeling this surge of popularity. While most users left Threads soon after its launch and meteoric rise in July 2023, in Taiwan people have recently started to come back to the platform. There, Threads has dominated app-store download charts for months. Prominent officials have set up accounts, and it’s become the most popular platform among young people.

Even Meta has noticed the pickup in interest. In early March, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, shared in an “ask me anything”–style story that “[Threads] is doing really well in a variety of countries, exceptionally well in Taiwan of all places, which has been fun to see.” A Meta spokesperson confirms that Mosseri has publicly spoken about the trend but declined to offer more data on the platform’s growth in Taiwan.