Meta’s Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users, marking a major growth milestone for the text-based social app as the company tries to strengthen its position against X and build a more community-driven platform.
Meta announced the milestone on June 16, saying Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users and that its growth has been driven by communities built around conversations on topics such as books, basketball, parenting, and music.
Threads reached 500 million monthly users this month after adding about 100 million new users since last August. The milestone comes just before Threads reaches its third birthday, giving Meta a strong number to highlight as the app matures from its 2023 launch.
Communities Become the Center of Threads Growth
Meta is crediting much of Threads’ recent momentum to its communities feature.
Meta said communities are groups of people gathering around the conversations they care about, and the company is now moving the feature out of beta.
The update includes a Communities Hub, community icons, community progress indicators, community champion recognition, and local communities beginning with native-language tags in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Engadget reported that Meta credited its in-app “communities” feature with fueling recent growth.
Threads boss Connor Hayes told shared that letting users create communities themselves could become available maybe in the next year. For now, Meta still controls which topics become dedicated communities, meaning the company is expanding the feature while keeping editorial and product control over how the app’s interest groups form.
Your Algo Gives Users More Feed Control
Meta is also adding a new feed-control feature called Your Algo. Meta said Your Algo lets users privately tell Threads what conversations they want to see more or less of in their feed, building on the earlier Dear Algo feature that allowed users to publicly post algorithm preferences.
The new control lets users choose how long their preference lasts: one, three, or seven days.
The Verge reported that Your Algo is rolling out in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The newer feature keeps those algorithm preferences private, unlike the earlier Dear Algo approach.
Growth Is Strong, but Revenue Is Still Developing
Threads’ user milestone is significant, but it does not yet mean the platform has become a major revenue engine for Meta. Meta has not shared current daily active user figures for Threads since October, when the app reached 150 million daily active users. Monthly user figures usually look more favorable than daily user numbers.
Meta’s long-term ambition remains much bigger. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he believes Threads could reach 1 billion users. However, Meta CFO Susan Li said in April that Threads is not expected to become a meaningful driver of revenue growth in 2026, even after Meta began rolling out Threads ads in 200 countries earlier this year.
Threads Pushes for More Direct Use
Threads’ growth story is also tied to how people are reaching the app. Threads initially benefited from Instagram following graphs and viral Threads posts pushed into Instagram and Facebook feeds. But Meta now says more people are opening Threads directly over time, suggesting the app is trying to become less dependent on traffic from Meta’s larger platforms.
Meta is also seeing regional momentum. Time spent on Threads is up 80 percent in South Korea and 130 percent in Japan compared with last year.
The 500 million monthly user milestone shows that Threads has become one of Meta’s most important social media bets. The next challenge is whether communities, feed controls, local features, and advertising can turn that growth into lasting engagement and eventually a stronger business.
