Threads Users Still Barely Click Links

Two years in, Threads is starting to look much and much for illustration nan astir viable challenger to X. It passed 350 cardinal monthly users earlier this twelvemonth and Mark Zuckerberg has predicted it could beryllium Meta's adjacent billion-user app.

But Threads still isn't sending overmuch postulation to different websites, which could make nan level little appealing for creators, publishers and others whose businesses dangle connected non-Meta owned websites. According to Similarweb, a trading intelligence firm, outbound referral postulation from Threads climbed to 28.4 cardinal visits successful June. That's a notable jump from 15.1 cardinal visits a twelvemonth ago, but still comparatively mini considering Threads is presently averaging much than 115 cardinal users a time connected its app, according to Similarweb.

Regular Threads users person agelong suspected that Meta deprioritizes posts pinch links. For astir of nan past 2 years of Threads' beingness nan communal contented was that users shouldn't stock links, aliases should only stock them arsenic replies to a superior post. Instagram main Adam Mosseri, who besides oversees Threads, hasn't precisely encouraged linking either. He said last year that Threads doesn't intentionally downrank links but that "we don’t spot overmuch worth on" them because "people don’t for illustration and remark connected links much."

Meta's reluctance wasn't conscionable astir users' preferences, though. The institution was besides concerned astir really spammers and different bad actors mightiness maltreatment links connected nan text-based platform. More precocious though, Meta has changed course, and has been taking steps to aboveground much "good" links successful recommended posts.

"We’ve been moving connected making judge links are classed properly," Mosseri said in June. "Links person been moving overmuch amended for much than a period now." The institution has besides bolstered links connected nan level by allowing users to adhd much links to their Threads profiles and providing link-specific analytics to its "insights" feature. "We want Threads to beryllium a spot that helps you turn your scope – moreover extracurricular of Threads," Meta said successful a May update.

But contempt these changes, Threads is still sending very small postulation to websites. Data shared by Similarweb shows that during May and June of past twelvemonth — erstwhile Threads had much than 150 million monthly users — it sent conscionable 24.8 cardinal referrals to extracurricular websites. During May and June of this year, that number much than doubled, rising to 51.8 million.

Those numbers still suggest, though, that nan mostly of Threads' users are rarely, if ever, clicking connected links they spot connected Threads. Lia Haberman, a societal media trading advisor and writer of nan ICYMI newsletter, said she's not surprised. "People conscionable sewage trained not to look for them, not to see them, not to deliberation astir them," she tells Engadget. "You can't conscionable flip a move and each of a abrupt expect group to clasp links."

Publishers, a group that apt posts much links connected Threads than anyone else, don't look to beryllium seeing important postulation from Threads either. Data provided by Chartbeat, a institution that provides analytics information to publishers, shows that patient page views from Threads person astir doubled since nan commencement of nan year, rising from 8.8 cardinal successful January to 15.1 cardinal successful June.

Interestingly, according to some Similarweb and Chartbeat's information for 2025, referrals from Threads peaked successful March. That month, Threads sent 28.8 cardinal outbound referrals to websites, according to Similarweb, while Chartbeat publishers saw 25 cardinal page views from nan platform.

But while nan latest stats show that postulation from Threads has grown importantly complete nan past year, it still represents a mini proportionality of nan publishers' postulation overall. According to Chartbeat, complete nan past twelvemonth and a half Threads has consistently accounted for little than 1 tenth of a percent of sites' referral traffic. By comparison, Facebook referrals person hovered astir 2 - 3 percent complete nan aforesaid period, while Google Discover has accounted for astir 13 - 14 percent of referrals. Even among different "small" sources of referrals, for illustration chatGPT, Reddit and Perplexity, Threads is only up of Perplexity successful position of nan number of referrals it sends.

Threads referrals moreover ray successful comparison to Twitter's, which was never known arsenic a awesome postulation driver moreover earlier Elon Musk's takeover of nan company. In January of 2018, Twitter accounted for 3 percent of publishers' page views, according to Chartbeat information reported by nan Press Gazette. By April of 2023, aft Musk's takeover but earlier he rebranded nan tract to X, that number had fallen to 1.2 percent.

Chartbeat's information isn't a complete image — stats provided to Engadget were based connected an study of 3,000 sites that person opted successful to anonymized information sharing — but nan flimsy summation successful referral postulation astir lines up pinch different awesome alteration Meta made this year. In January, pursuing Mark Zuckerberg's move to end truth checking and locomotion backmost contented moderation rules, Threads besides ended its moratorium connected recommending governmental contented to each users.

Following this change, immoderate publishers of governmental news, including Newsweek, Politico and Forbes saw a spike successful referrals from Threads, Digiday reported. But those gains don't look to beryllium universal, and it's not clear why immoderate publishers whitethorn beryllium benefitting much than others. "Threads is trailing importantly successful traffic, subscription conversions, and wide conversion rate," compared pinch Bluesky and X, the Boston Globe's VP of Platforms Mark Karolian precocious shared connected Threads.

While Threads' maturation truthful acold hasn't been hampered by its inability to thrust users off-platform, it could go an progressively important rumor for Meta if it really wants to bring much creators onto nan platform. The institution is besides getting fresh to flip nan move on ads connected nan platform. A personification guidelines that ignores links could complicate Meta's transportation to advertisers, who are already taking a cautious approach to Threads. Meta declined to comment.

Haberman says that Threads' ambivalence toward links mightiness beryllium symptomatic of a larger personality situation nan level is still facing. It has a ample personification base, but it's not ever clear who Threads is really for. It isn't known arsenic a destination to travel breaking news, for illustration Twitter erstwhile was, aliases arsenic a spot pinch highly-engaged subcultures, she notes. "Threads needs to person a purpose," she says. "And correct now, it seems very overmuch for illustration a proposal container astatine activity wherever group are conscionable filing complaints and trauma dumping."

Whether smaller platforms for illustration Threads tin reliably thrust postulation to websites is an progressively urgent question. At a clip erstwhile online hunt feels for illustration it's getting worse, AI is quickly replacing galore searches and cannibalizing websites' hunt traffic. Publishers, arsenic The Wall Street Journal precocious reported, are being deed particularly difficult by these shifts.

Threads is highly improbable to capable those gaps connected its own, moreover if referral postulation vastly improves. And publishers successful peculiar person plenty of reasons not to go excessively reliant connected a Meta-owned platform. At nan aforesaid time, there's intelligibly an opportunity for Threads to play a bigger domiciled successful a post-search world. That would not only use nan creators, publishers and mini business owners Meta has agelong courted, it could thief Threads found an personality of its own.