Nobody wins the war: Aussies reject both X and Threads
Twitter’s rebrand to X and Meta’s introduction of Threads might have dominated headlines in July, but new data from Tracksuit shows the platforms have struggled to resonate with Australians users.
By the end of its launch weekend, Meta’s Threads platform had more than 100 million users worldwide. But the honeymoon ended quickly: less than 5% of Australians are actively using it.
Compare that with Meta’s other platforms Facebook and Instagram, which remain the most popular social media in Australia, at 77% and 51% usage in the last 12 months, respectively.
Meanwhile Aussies are struggling to let go of the Twitter name, with only 20% viewing the platform’s rebrand to X as positive.
Co-CEO and co-founder of Tracksuit, Connor Archbold, said: “The social media landscape has experienced major shifts in recent months, with Instagram trying to capitalise on Twitter’s rebrand and grab market share by introducing Threads. Despite the big changes for both brands, X and Threads have struggled to resonate with users.
“While the Twitter to X rebrand has been under scrutiny for a number of reasons, it’s the apparent disregard of Twitter’s long standing brand salience that has hindered user backing. Not many brands can claim their brand language has entered the common vernacular as a verb, like ‘tweeting’,” he continued.
“Twitter has been around for 17 years, and many users have sentimental attachments to the brand. Transitioning that level of support was never going to be easy.”
87% of Australians were aware of Twitter, while only 52% are aware of X, according to the data.
Meanwhile, younger generations are leaning towards Instagram, with 76% of 18-34 year-olds using the platform, while over half also now use TikTok.
“With Threads, the heart of the problem lies in an audience disconnect. Those who use the Instagram platform are traditionally there for the aesthetically led image and video feeds. A text based feature doesn’t feel true to that,” Archbold continued.
“Brands finding it difficult to pique users’ attention need to lean into their brand salience and target audiences. Having a clear understanding of consumer sentiment towards your brand, and more importantly, how to resonate with them, is essential to building long term brand health and loyalty.”
Tracksuit surveyed 5000+ Australians.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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