It feels like just yesterday we were all flocking to a new platform, trying to figure out if it would stick. And now, the landscape is shifting again, with whispers of a new leader emerging in the text-based social media arena. You might have heard the buzz: Meta's Threads is reportedly making some serious headway, even surpassing Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) in daily active users on mobile. It’s a fascinating turn of events, isn't it?
Looking at the numbers, it seems Threads has been steadily growing, especially in the early weeks of 2026. Reports suggest that in the first 13 days of January, Threads saw an average of 143.2 million daily active users globally on mobile. Compare that to X, which was hovering around 126.2 million during the same period. That's a noticeable gap, and it’s a significant shift from where things stood even a few months prior. Remember back in September 2025? Similarweb data indicates Threads first nudged ahead of X on September 5th, with 130 million DAU compared to X's 129 million. It was a close call then, but the lead seems to be widening.
What's particularly interesting is the trajectory of X. The data points to a decline in its user numbers, with a nearly 12% drop in January compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Threads has experienced a substantial surge, a whopping 37.8% increase year-over-year in January. It makes you wonder what's driving these changes. Was there a specific event that caused a temporary spike on X, like the news around Venezuela's president in early January? Possibly. But the sustained growth of Threads suggests something more fundamental might be at play.
Now, it's not all one-sided. X still holds a lead in a specific, crucial market: the US mobile DAU. While the gap has narrowed considerably, X was still ahead in the first 13 days of January with 21.2 million users, just slightly more than Threads' 19.5 million. This suggests that while Threads might be winning the global mobile race, the battle for the influential US audience is still very much ongoing, albeit with Threads gaining significant ground.
It’s a dynamic space, this world of social media. We've seen how platforms can rise and fall, and how user behavior can shift with surprising speed. Think about the conversations around AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which generated so much discussion and even some panic initially, but are now becoming more integrated into our daily tools. The social media landscape is similarly evolving, and it's always worth keeping an eye on these shifts. The competition between Threads and X is a prime example of this ongoing evolution, shaping how we connect and share information online.