Recently hired Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is responding to reports that Twitter traffic is declining following the launch of a new competitor, Instagram Threads. While she denies the decline, Twitter does seem to be taking action to address the potential threat posed by Meta’s rival platform. Users have reported that Twitter is selectively blocking links to the website of Threads.net in Twitter searches, making it harder to find conversations or user profiles on Threads.
Twitter’s Selective Blocking of Threads.net Links
Technologist Andy Baio noticed the change on Twitter when he used the search operator “url:threads.net” and received no results. This operator would typically display tweets with links to the specified website, but now it appears to be blocked. Even without the operator, tweets mentioning threads.net or users’ Threads usernames are returned, but direct links to discussions on the Threads platform are missing.
Musk’s Twitter Previously Blocked Competitor’s Links
This isn’t the first time that Twitter has blocked links to a competitor’s website. When Substack launched its discussions feature, Substack Notes, the platform censored those links by disabling the ability to reply, like, or retweet. However, the current blocking of Threads links doesn’t go that far, at least not yet.
Tensions Rise Between Musk and Zuckerberg
The rivalry between Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has intensified, with Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a “cage match” and resorting to name-calling on Twitter. Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has taken a less antagonistic approach, highlighting Twitter’s booming traffic in an effort to reassure advertisers.
Questions Surrounding Twitter’s Traffic Amid Threads’ Rise
Yaccarino’s claims of record Twitter usage raise questions, as numerous reports have suggested a decline in the platform traffic since Threads’ launch. Data from web analytics firm Similarweb indicated a 5% decline in Twitter’s web traffic during the first two days of Threads’ availability compared to the previous week. Other data, including tweets from Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, supported these findings.
While Threads has experienced a fast start, leveraging Instagram’s social graph to quickly grow its user base, its long-term future remains uncertain. Similar surges in demand for new apps often fade once the initial experimentation phase is over. This was evident with Mastodon, a Twitter rival that peaked at 2.5 million monthly users before dropping to 1.9 million. However, Mastodon has recently seen growth, capitalizing on Twitter’s challenges.
Zuckerberg capitalized on Twitter’s struggles by releasing Threads quickly, even before its web version was fully functional. The app’s rapid growth, reaching 100 million users in just five days, has outpaced competitors like ChatGPT.
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