X Faces Declining Daily Usage and Growing Competition from Threads Following CEO's Departure

The Shifting Sands of Social Media: X's Challenges and Threads' Ascent

The social media landscape is in a constant state of flux, marked by intense competition and evolving user behaviors. For years, the platform formerly known as Twitter, now X, held a unique position as the go-to network for real-time information and public discourse. However, recent developments, including significant leadership changes and shifts in user metrics, suggest that X's dominance is facing its most formidable challenge yet, primarily from Meta's Threads.

The recent announcement of Linda Yaccarino stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk's X has cast a spotlight on the company's trajectory. Yaccarino's tenure was marked by efforts to stabilize the advertising business and steer the platform under Musk's ownership. Her departure comes at a critical juncture, as X navigates a competitive environment where rivals are not just emerging but actively eroding its market share and user base.

Data from app intelligence firms like Sensor Tower and Similarweb paint a clear picture of the challenges X is currently facing. According to Sensor Tower, X's daily active user base saw a year-over-year decline of approximately 10% in the second quarter of 2025. While X still maintains a substantial lead in overall user numbers – reportedly 65% larger than Threads and significantly larger than other competitors like Bluesky – the trend of decline is a significant concern.

Threads' Rapid Growth and Mobile Momentum

Meta's Threads, launched as a direct competitor to X, has demonstrated remarkable growth since its inception. Leveraging its deep integration with Instagram, Threads quickly amassed millions of users. While it started behind X in overall user numbers, its growth trajectory has been steep and consistent.

New data from Similarweb highlights Threads' increasing momentum, particularly on mobile devices. In June 2025, Threads' mobile app recorded 115.1 million daily active users on iOS and Android. This represents an astounding 127.8% year-over-year growth. In contrast, X's mobile app reached 132 million daily active users in the same period, but this figure reflects a 15.2% year-over-year decline. This data, as reported by TechCrunch, indicates that on mobile, the gap between the two platforms is narrowing rapidly.

Chart comparing daily active users for X and Threads mobile apps — **Image Credits:** Similarweb

Threads' success in attracting mobile users is largely attributed to its seamless integration with Instagram. Instagram's massive user base provides a ready-made funnel for Threads, allowing users to sign up and connect with their existing network effortlessly. This strategic advantage has been crucial in bootstrapping Threads' growth and overcoming the cold-start problem that plagues many new social networks.

User Engagement: Where X Still Holds an Edge

Despite the concerning trends in daily active users, X still possesses significant strengths. One key area where X maintains a considerable lead is user engagement and loyalty. According to Sensor Tower's data for the second quarter of 2025, X users spent an average of 31 minutes per day on the platform. This is nearly four times the average time spent on Threads, which stood at 8 minutes per day.

Furthermore, Sensor Tower reported that nearly half (48%) of X's global monthly app users interacted with the platform on a daily basis during the quarter. For Threads, this figure was lower, at 33%. These metrics suggest that while Threads is effective at acquiring users, X's existing user base remains highly engaged and loyal, spending more time on the platform and returning more frequently.

This higher engagement on X could be attributed to several factors, including its established role in news dissemination, live event commentary, and niche communities. X has cultivated a culture of real-time interaction and discussion that users find compelling, leading to longer session times and higher daily usage frequency among its active users.

The Advertising Battleground

For both X and Threads, advertising revenue is a critical component of their business models. The competition for user attention directly translates into a battle for advertiser dollars. Under Linda Yaccarino's leadership, X's ad business reportedly saw some recovery, although it remained a volatile area.

Sensor Tower data indicates shifts in advertising spend on X. In 2025 year-to-date, advertisers in the media and entertainment (25%), shopping (22%), and gaming (7%) verticals represented significant portions of total U.S. ad spend on the platform. These categories have grown compared to their share in 2022 (20%, 14%, and 2% respectively), suggesting some success in attracting specific types of advertisers.

Top advertisers on X in the past year included major brands like Samsung, Temu, State Farm, MGM, and the NFL. More recently, companies such as Apple, Google, Verizon, and Dell have joined the ranks of top advertisers. Data from Guideline, another ad intelligence provider, noted a 62% year-over-year increase in U.S. ad spending on X in the first half of 2025, according to TechCrunch. This suggests that despite the user decline, X was making some headway in revitalizing its ad platform, a task Yaccarino was specifically brought in to address.

Threads, meanwhile, is aggressively building its own advertising ecosystem. As part of Meta, Threads benefits immensely from the parent company's nearly two decades of experience in maximizing ad revenues and its established relationships with advertisers globally. In April 2025, Meta opened up Threads ads to its global advertiser base, and the following month, it announced tests for video ads. This rapid rollout of advertising features and access to Meta's sophisticated ad tools and targeting capabilities gives Threads a significant advantage in monetizing its growing user base.

The advertising market is not strictly a zero-sum game, but the dominance of the Meta-Google duopoly has historically made it difficult for new platforms to capture significant ad spend. Threads' ability to tap into Meta's existing ad infrastructure bypasses many of the challenges a standalone platform like X faces in attracting and retaining advertisers, particularly amidst concerns about content moderation and brand safety.

Meta's History and Threads' Breakthrough

For years, Meta struggled to launch a successful new social networking app organically. While it successfully acquired and scaled platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, its internal efforts to build new social experiences often fell short. The company has a long list of experimental apps that were eventually shut down due to low usage or failure to gain traction.

Examples of Meta's past app graveyard include:

Tuned (social app for couples)
Super (Cameo-like app)
Move (experimental social app)
Facebook Gaming app
Hello (dialer app)
Neighborhoods (Nextdoor clone)
Bulletin (newsletter platform)
Lasso (TikTok competitor)
Moments (photo sharing)
IGTV (long-form video)
Hobbi (personal project tracking)
Lifestage (teen video app)
Slingshot (Snapchat competitor)
Rooms (chat app)
Rift (VR social)
Notify (notifications app)
Paper (news reader)
tbh (acquisition, anonymous teen app)

This history underscores the significance of Threads' success. By leveraging the massive network effect and user base of Instagram, Meta finally found a formula to bootstrap a new social platform effectively. This strategy allowed Threads to bypass the initial hurdle of building an audience from scratch, a challenge that proved insurmountable for many of Meta's previous attempts.

As of Meta's latest earnings report, Threads had reached 350 million monthly active users. While X, now a private company, is not required to disclose official metrics, Elon Musk has previously claimed a figure of 600 million monthly active users. This suggests X still holds a lead in overall monthly users, but Threads' rapid growth rate indicates it is quickly closing the gap.

The Road Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

The competition between X and Threads is far from over. X retains advantages in user engagement, its established role in public discourse, and a significant web presence that Threads currently lacks. However, X faces considerable challenges, including the recent leadership transition, potential advertiser hesitancy, and the ongoing task of defining its identity and business model under Elon Musk's ownership.

Threads, while benefiting from Meta's resources and Instagram integration, still needs to prove it can retain users long-term and build a sustainable, highly engaged community independent of its initial growth drivers. It also needs to refine its platform features and content moderation policies to compete effectively with X's established functionalities and user expectations.

The departure of Linda Yaccarino from X adds another layer of uncertainty to the platform's future. Her role was crucial in attempting to rebuild trust with advertisers and establish a more traditional business structure within Musk's vision. Her exit leaves a void that will need to be filled, potentially impacting X's efforts to stabilize its revenue streams and user base.

The social media landscape is dynamic, and user preferences can shift rapidly. While X currently enjoys higher per-user engagement, Threads' explosive growth in daily active users, particularly on mobile, signals a significant shift in momentum. The coming months will be crucial in determining whether Threads can convert its rapid user acquisition into sustained engagement and whether X can reverse its user decline and solidify its position amidst intense competition.

Ultimately, the battle between X and Threads is a microcosm of the broader competition in the digital attention economy. Both platforms are vying for users' time, data, and the advertising revenue that follows. Threads' strategic integration with Meta's ecosystem provides a powerful engine for growth, while X relies on its established network effect and unique position in the public sphere. The outcome of this rivalry will shape the future of text-based social networking and have significant implications for how information is shared and consumed online.