This could mark a major shift in the real-time social media landscape.
According to new data from Meta, sports discussion is rising fast on Threads, with sports-related creators collectively growing their follower communities by nearly a million people over the last two months, and seeing faster than any other category of “influential creators.”
Which is significant because sports remains the main topic of discussion on X:
Sports fans turn to X to keep up to date with the latest scores and news, and many of those communities have remained embedded in the app, based on their established groups and habitual behaviors.
But if Threads can steal more of that discussion away, and become the home of real-time sports engagement, that could be a big step towards supplanting X as the main base for live social media engagement.
Which is also why last week’s new agreement with UFC is important.
Meta has secured a new deal which will see the company become an “official technology partner” of the combat sports league, which will also include a range of exclusive UFC content to be posted to Facebook and Instagram.
But interestingly, Threads is also a key focus.
As you can see, the UFC is putting a big emphasis on Threads, with Threads signage also set to be added to the octagon at UFC events.
It’s also running a Threads promotion, with well-known UFC announcer Bruce Buffer responding to fans’ Threads posts ahead of UFC 314 this weekend.
It may not seem like much now, but it could mark a significant turning point for the app, and with the data showing that more sports fans are already turning to Threads, that could open up new opportunities for the challenger platform to supersede X.
I mean, Threads is still a way off, in terms of overall usage.
Late last month, as part of Elon Musk’s announcement that X has been acquired by xAI, he noted that X now has 600 million monthly active users, up from the 570 million that it reported in July last year, though it remains on 250 million daily users, which it’s been sitting on since 2022.
At last report, Threads currently has 320 million monthly actives. So while its growth momentum is still holding steady, it still has a way to go to catch X, if those numbers are correct.
But based on the trend data, winning sports fans over could be a significant part of that, and a big step towards seeing Meta beat out X at its own game.
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