Meta built Threads to compete with X. Three years later, its more interesting role is as a new layer of the social media ecosystem: part forum, part testing ground, part distribution engine.
In an interview last week with Sources, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Threads is doing great. I think it’s either bigger than X at this point, [or] it’s very soon about to be.” There has been independent verification of that trend. For example, Similarweb data found that on mobile devices, the number of active mobile users worldwide on Threads surpassed that on X for the first time in September 2025, a trend that has continued.
As of June 2026, Threads has 500 million monthly users globally. In 2025, it was the second-most-downloaded app, after ChatGPT. What’s largely happening is cross-promotion. Meta has enabled cross-posting from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, making it super easy for brands and users to be active on all three at the same time.
The story here isn’t that X is going anywhere; for example, X has 17X more daily visits on the web than Threads does. Instead, there are now two significant microblogging platforms that marketers need to consider and be present on.
With that in mind, here’s what marketers need to know about Threads in 2026.
Brands Should Be Monitoring Relevant Threads Communities
In October 2025, Threads introduced Communities, which are essentially a short-form version of Reddit communities. Users can join Communities around specific topics; for example, NBA Threads has 397K members and Film Threads has 189K members. Once users join these groups, the groups appear in the user’s feed below their “Following” list.
Also, within Communities, brands can potentially start or join live chats. However, currently only some influencers or Community Champions who are actively engaged in a Threads community can start live chats. For brands interested in hosting live chats, it may be most effective to contact Threads directly, as exploring Communities is a great way to build brand affinity on Threads.
Threads Becoming More of a Forum For Podcast Discussion
While you still can’t post podcasts directly to Threads, in the last week, Threads announced an expanded podcast toolkit for creators and listeners. The new features include podcast banners that can be displayed across profiles and posts, the ability to share and save podcast links as tappable cards, and the ability to highlight more memorable moments with transcript, video, and guest card posts. Threads is also improving podcast insights, allowing you to measure clicks and saves and quantify how effective these tools are at bringing in listeners.
With Threads making a concerted effort to make its platform a home for podcast conversations, it’s a great opportunity for brands with podcasts to see whether these tools can help increase listenership and engagement among existing listeners.
Test Instagram Content Ideas On Threads
Unlike other social media platforms, Threads doesn’t penalize accounts for how many times they post. That makes Threads an ideal sandbox for testing which content tactics resonate with your brand’s audience. Once a video, image, or text post resonates with your audience, it can be shared on social media channels where your brand has a larger following.
Take Advantage Of Threads Being More Link-Friendly
It’s become more common in the last couple of years to include links in the comments rather than in the body of posts, as posts with links have often been deprioritized by social media algorithms. There are a couple of reasons why that’s less of an issue with Threads. Threads head Adam Mosseri has confirmed they don’t intentionally downrank posts with links. Also, for brands still concerned about links, you can pin a reply to the top of your thread, so a link to a landing page or event invite is still more prominently displayed.
The last thing to consider is that accounts can share up to 5 links in their Threads bio, just like with Instagram, for the last few years, so a reliance on link trees is less of an issue.
Threads Is a Companion App, Post Accordingly
The average user spends 5 minutes and 24 seconds per day on Threads, compared with 33 minutes per day on Instagram. Even given that it’s a short-form social media platform, brevity is likely a virtue on Threads. Focus on short, mobile-friendly content. Videos can be up to 5 minutes long on Threads, and there’s a 500-character limit that expands to a 10,000-character limit through Text Attachments. However, there are very few use cases where making your content longer on Threads makes sense.
Conclusion
How important Threads will become in the social media ecosystem is still an open question. However, Threads is arguably already the most successful social media platform Meta has built from scratch since Facebook (as opposed to acquired). Even if it remains a secondary platform for Facebook and Instagram users, the fact that it already has a massive number of users and continues to grow is a clear signal that marketers need to pay attention. The platform should be considered when planning your brand’s social media outreach.
