Credit to Nylah Smith

A student at North prepares to download the X alternative app, Threads.

Threads is a social media platform that allows discussion and sharing of ideas through text messages and is often compared to X (Twitter). X is currently facing competition as Threads has taken nearly 75 percent of its users. When Threads was released, it was an extremely popular app, but, within a matter of months, the popularity has died down greatly.

“I thought it would be the next thing to catch on since Twitter was kind of falling apart,” senior Jack Engelhard said. “I figured that would be where everyone was going to go to.”

Threads, a Meta-powered platform, was released on July 5. Engelhard, as well as others at North, wanted to hop on the trend and share their thoughts when the app was released. 

“I just liked the newness of it and the fact that it was a new social media app,” junior Leesha Kamotho said. 

The idea of connecting a Twitter account to an Instagram account was appealing to some, allowing followers to view your thoughts and opinions all on one app. 

“I just kind of made Threads I had like two that I posted,” Engelhard said. “[I had] absolutely no response, not many of my friends at least had at the time.”

The popularity was rising but now the app is struggling to grow and is near the bottom of the ranks. 

“I think it became less popular. In the beginning, [it was a new app] that no one [had] but now no one really cares anymore,” Kamotho said. 

The newness of the app could have contributed to its downfall. The app couldn’t gain ground with the masses because of its similarity to Twitter, leaving many who used Threads deleting the app. 

“Because even though Twitter rebranded and it kind of sucks now, it’s still a staple of a lot of people’s lives and they weren’t willing to change,” Engelhard said.