Twitter Cuts Off Access to Threads Amid Heated Competition
Threads, Twitter’s latest competitor, has experienced rapid growth since its launch on July 5, becoming the quickest platform to reach 100 million users. This surge in popularity has coincided with a decline in Twitter’s traffic, as indicated by Cloudflare CEO’s recent DNS rankings where Twitter ranked 37th. Despite Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino dismissing reports of decreased traffic, the platform appears to be worried about the competition and has allegedly taken drastic measures to counter it.
Threads links are blocked by Twitter
According to technologist Andy Baio (via TechCrunch ), while Twitter allows users to submit URLs to the platform, it has recently blocked links to the Threads app. Baio posted a screenshot on Threads showing a search for “url:threads.net” that returned no results. Searches on operators usually return results with tweets mentioning links, but in this case there were no links to Threads profiles or posts.
In the post, Baio wrote: “Twitter is selectively blocking searches for tweets linking to threads, even though they allow thread URLs to be posted (for now).”
Other users have also noticed issues with Twitter Threads links. User @thebigjohnnyd commented on Threads: “I noticed last week that if you post a thread link and someone has tweet notifications turned on, they get a push notification on their phone, but the app or website says don’t show the tweet.”
What traffic reduction?
In light of a chart released by Cloudflare’s CEO that showed Twitter traffic declining since January 2023, Twitter’s CTO Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino emphasized that it’s still doing well. In addition, they also revealed that the microblogging platform is set to set new records of their own.
Yaccarino tweeted yesterday: “Don’t want to leave you guys hanging by a thread…but Twitter, you really outdid yourselves! Last week we had our biggest usage day since February. Likely to explore Threads and other microblogging platforms, he added: “There’s only ONE Twitter. You know it. I know it.”
Responding to the tweet, Musk revealed that Twitter is setting a new record. “According to iOS and Android, cumulative user seconds per day by phone time is the hardest to play. I think we can hit an all-time high this week,” he commented.
While Twitter and Threads have been fighting to become the best microblogging platforms, the heads of the respective platforms have also butted heads. Elon Musk challenged Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a “cage match” recently, and the pair have been active on social media, posting updates on their training for the supposed fight.
