On Tuesday and Wednesday, the app's daily active users (the metric that matters) were down about 20% from Saturday, and the time spent per user was down 50%, from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.
Google Search results, a great early indicator of a trend, shows a 75% drop in searches, an astonishing and rapid drop.
David Webb from Similarweb said “while there was intense interest in checking out the app initially, not every user has made a habit of visiting the app as often as they might other social apps.”
Zuckerberg may as well drop the clone as he did with all his other clones over the years.
No one knows for sure why the engagement is dropping so catastrophically, but I’m not surprised.
Here’s an exert from my previous tweet, and the prediction seems to be materializing: "Zuckerberg's Twitter clone is riding on Instagram to attract new downloads, but there are major issues with this new app" that could lead to high churn:
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CENSORSHIP: Meta’s experience is fundamentally different to @elonmusk 's vision for Twitter due to their excessive and biased censorship, impeding one’s right to Free Speech.
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PREMATURE APP LAUNCH: The app’s experience is a VERY bare-bones version of Twitter with limited functionality, limited features and, in my opinion, a very ‘meh’ experience.
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BRIDGE FOR INSTAGRAM USERS TO JOIN TWITTER: I predicted that Instagram users who download and use the app, and actually enjoy it, will then migrate to the ‘Real Thing’, and that’s Twitter.
However, to be honest, I didn't anticipate it would be THIS EPIC OF A FLOP.
Other analysts have identified that some users have already reported shadowbanning and algorithmic downgrading of non-mainstream content. What a surprise…
MEDIA WRONG AGAIN:
We have been swamped with jubilant headlines from mainstream media. Enjoy the laugh:
The Guardian 'Twitter killer' app hits 100m sign-ups in less than five days
Forbes Twitter Rival Now Fastest-Growing App In History With 100 Million Users
The Economic Times Meta's Twitter rival overtakes ChatGPT as fastest-growing platform
Yahoo Finance Meta's app hits 30 million sign ups: Is it a threat to Twitter?
MY THOUGHTS:
I’ve been pretty clear from the beginning: Meta’s attempt to copy Twitter seems very rushed and half-assed. They leverage Instagram’s 1+ billion users to get downloads rather than focusing on a Unique Selling Point over Twitter.
While I didn’t expect such a rapid collapse, I am not surprised. What I’m waiting to see though is whether all these users will migrate from Meta’s clone onto Twitter.
DID ZUCKERBERG’S COPYCAT FAIL? DID YOU USE IT
They're pushing very hard to portray the initial wave of downloads as a metric for success.
The reality is that the app is extremely easy to download via Instagram and FB. A huge portion of those downloads were people who downloaded it without any intention of immediate use, just convenience.
It's literally a mirage.
Correct...