Threads’ Billion-User Ambition Faces Hurdle: Link Engagement Remains Stubbornly Low
Threads’ Billion-User Ambition Faces Hurdle: Link Engagement Remains Stubbornly Low
Two years after its launch, Meta’s Threads platform is rapidly expanding its user base, boasting over 350 million monthly users and averaging more than 115 million daily active users. While Mark Zuckerberg has grand visions of it becoming Meta’s next billion-user app, new data reveals a persistent challenge: Threads is still struggling to drive significant outbound traffic to external websites.
Despite Meta’s recent efforts to encourage link sharing and improve their visibility, Threads continues to send a disproportionately small amount of traffic compared to its massive user base. According to marketing intelligence firm Similarweb, outbound referral traffic from Threads reached 28.4 million visits in June 2025, a notable increase from 15.1 million a year prior. However, this figure remains minuscule when set against its daily active user count. Similarly, combined data for May and June 2025 shows 51.8 million referrals, more than doubling last year’s figures, yet still indicating that most users rarely, if ever, click on links.
Publishers, who are among the most frequent link sharers, are also seeing limited impact. Chartbeat data indicates that publisher page views from Threads nearly doubled since the start of 2025, rising from 8.8 million in January to 15.1 million in June. Referral traffic from Threads peaked in March 2025, with Similarweb reporting 28.8 million outbound referrals and Chartbeat noting 25 million publisher page views.
The issue stems from a long-standing user behavior pattern, partly influenced by Meta’s prior ambivalence towards links. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, who oversees Threads, admitted last year that the platform ‘doesn’t place much value’ on links due to low engagement. While Meta has since reversed course, enhancing link ranking and analytics, the ingrained habit of users to avoid or overlook links persists.
This low link engagement poses a significant problem for Meta’s aspirations. It makes Threads less appealing for creators and publishers who rely on driving traffic to their own sites, and could complicate the platform’s future monetization through advertising. Compared to other platforms, Threads’ contribution to overall publisher traffic is negligible, consistently accounting for less than one-tenth of a percent, far behind Facebook (2-3%) and Google Discover (13-14%).
As the digital landscape shifts with evolving search behaviors and the rise of AI, the ability of social platforms to drive web traffic becomes increasingly critical. While Threads is unlikely to single-handedly fill the void, overcoming its link engagement challenge is vital for its long-term success and for establishing a distinct identity beyond just a text-based social network.
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