• by Colin Kirkland , August 22, 2023

Meta's Twitter competitor, Threads, is expanding beyond mobile via a new logged-in web experience that allows users to post, view their feed, and interact with posts from their desktop, according to a recent announcement by company CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The new desktop web interface, which the company says is rolling out now, closely resembles the mobile app. However, the navigation icons are on the top of the page, and in the bottom left-hand corner there is a button that allows users to switch between the For You feature and Following Feeds.

Meta says it will be adding more functionality to the web experience over the coming weeks. But right now, Threads users are not able to edit their profile or send a post to Instagram DMs on the web, which they can do on the mobile app.

The tech giant may be hoping web accessibility will help Threads reclaim its early status as a massively popular Twitter alternative.

Due to ongoing chaos at Twitter (now X) and the seamless onboarding accessibility from Instagram, Meta claimed that Threads amassed 10 million users within seven hours of launch, making it the most downloaded non-game app on a launch day in the past decade, according to Sensor Tower. Within days, 100 million people had signed up.

But by taking a hard stance against the coverage of breaking news and political events -- two areas of focus that made Twitter so popular with users -- Threads has positioned itself as a “friendly public space for conversation,” which critics are concerned will not offer users enough engagement to become daily users. And they might be correct.

Over the past two months, popularity around the “Twitter-killer” has plunged. Threads usage peaked at around 50 million daily active global users on Android devices, and is now only about 10 million -- about a tenth of X's user base, notes Time.