Threads allowing its users to delete their accounts without affecting their linked Instagram account is an admission of the platform’s long-running failure.
On July 5, Meta launched the Threads app, a platform that allows users to communicate and join public conversations primarily through text. The app was a clear response to Elon Musk’s poor handling of his new acquisition, Twitter – which, in a move aligned with Musk’s consistently terrible decision-making process, has since been renamed to “X” – and users began flocking to Threads in droves. Users would just need to link their Instagram account, and they were set.
Threads’ unspoken promise to replace the once-beloved “bird app” mixed with Instagram’s notability caused its initial user base to skyrocket, with the app surpassing 100 million users within five days of its release. Compare this to other notable platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, each of which took over four years to reach that milestone. Even TikTok, which saw unprecedented success, took nine months to reach the 100-million threshold.
Unfortunately for Threads, a groundbreaking launch doesn’t necessarily equate to long-term success. As Meta would discover, launching a new platform purely with the intent to capitalise off a competitor’s downfalls is not enough to sustain a consistent user base.
When Threads launched, it was missing a variety of common social media features, such as a following-only feed, hashtags, the ability to switch accounts, translation features, a proper search function, embedded Instagram posts and a desktop version. In other words, Threads launched as a skeleton of a social media platform, one that presents the groundwork of a potential future service but lacks any of the specific features that make it pleasant to use.
X, on the other hand, already has a variety of features and options that make for ease of use. While Elon Musk has certainly made some decisions that have hurt the app since he acquired it, it’s undeniable that X’s many years as Twitter have baked-in features that make it far more user-friendly than Threads. Those features have been there for years, long before Musk took a sledgehammer to the platform’s reputation.
While it’s a nice idea to think that there might be a proper replacement for X, this thought alone isn’t enough to keep users engaged in a whole new service. If a competitor lacks the features that users need to have a pleasant experience, they’ll understandably go back to the service that provides the options they’re used to, even if they disagree with its management and continue hoping for an eventual replacement.
Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. By the end of July, Threads’ user base had plummeted by over 80 per cent. While its developers have been listening to feedback and have since added new options for their users, it’s too little, too late. The social media crowd already jumped on the Threads bandwagon over the summer, and because it launched in such a barebones state, that’s probably how most of its former users are going to continue thinking of it.
Threads has now added a feature that allows users to delete their account without also deleting their linked Instagram account. This is likely an unspoken admission from Meta that the project was a massive failure. At the very least, this move is an admission of uncertainty, but it’s more than likely a complete acceptance of Threads’ utter failure.
By not allowing users to do this in the first place, Meta was making a bold claim that Threads would be a major part of Instagram’s future. The inability to independently delete a Threads account implied that its integration into the Instagram service would be long-standing and impactful; after all, why would a user need to delete their Threads account if it’s a major new component of the Instagram experience?
But this clearly isn’t the case anymore. Anyone who created a Threads account has a link to that account at the top of their Instagram profile, but now this is just a waste of space. I’d speculate that many people who tried out Threads upon launch probably want this link removed from their Instagram account, but they haven’t been able to until now.
By allowing users to delete their Threads account without affecting linked Instagram accounts, Meta is admitting that they’re not certain about Threads’ place in Instagram’s future.
Threads made a big promise, but its lack of features upon release caused irreparable damage to the platform’s user base and reputation. Furthermore, not allowing users to independently delete their Threads account shows that Meta was holding onto the hope that they might bring some of these users back, but that’s clearly not likely to happen.
Meta has realized that the Threads project isn’t going anywhere, and they’ve accepted that the majority of these users just aren’t coming back.