Meta Platforms (META.O) is placing significant emphasis on improving user retention for Threads, its new Twitter competitor. After the app’s initial launch, it experienced a substantial loss of users, with more than half leaving in the following weeks. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, addressed this concern during an internal company town hall. While the retention of users on the text-based app was better than expected, it still fell short of the desired level.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that it’s normal for some drop-off to occur but expressed optimism that retention would improve as Meta adds more features to Threads, such as a desktop version and search functionality. The company’s executives are exploring the addition of “retention-driving hooks” to encourage users to return to the app. One idea is to ensure that people on the Instagram app can access important Threads content.
The recent revenue growth forecast presented by Meta impressed investors, signaling a potential comeback for the company, which had faced skepticism due to its heavy spending on the metaverse last year. Zuckerberg emphasized that the development of augmented and virtual reality technology for the metaverse is progressing as planned.
Regarding the release of Llama 2, an artificial intelligence model, Meta made it freely available for commercial use to developers with fewer than 700 million users. The model has garnered significant interest, with over 150,000 download requests in just one week after its release.
Additionally, there were discussions about a potential “cage match” with Elon Musk, but Zuckerberg expressed uncertainty about whether it would materialize.