Earlier this month, Meta launched its text-based platform Threads, a competitor to Twitter. It garnered 100 million users only 5 days after its launch, and it was all thanks to a relatively small team and a testament to Meta's Year of Efficiency plan, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"We've already seen a number of examples of how our leaner organization and some of the cultural changes we've made can build higher quality products faster, and this is probably the biggest so far," Zuckerberg said during the company's Q2 earnings call on Wednesday. "The Year of Efficiency was always about two different goals: becoming an even stronger technology company, and improving our financial results so we can invest aggressively in our ambitious long term roadmap."
While the Facebook cofounder did not provide specific details about the size of the team or the amount of time in which Threads was developed, he described it as a product "built by a relatively small team on a tight timeline," and later noted that the opportunity it has created is "something we didn't expect to this scale."
Zuckerberg highlighted the remarkable growth of Threads, and emphasized the company's current focus on improving user retention (after recent reports indicated a significant loss of active users on the platform) and on refining the fundamental features of the app. Once Meta addresses these challenges, the company will shift its attention towards expanding the user community to a larger scale, and after that, exploring monetization strategies, Zuckerberg explained.
While the impressive user base Threads achieved early on has left many astonished, Zuckerberg believes it's too early to pinpoint the exact source of this success. On one hand, he likens it to the "classic venture capital portfolio approach," where multiple ideas are attempted, and some fail while others yield massive successes. On the other hand, Zuckerberg acknowledges that Threads' triumph might due to "all the factors that are happening around Twitter, or X, I guess it's called now."
"I'm highly confident that we're going to be able to pour enough gasoline on this to help it grow," Zuckerberg said. "There hasn't been an app for public discussions like this that has reached a billion people. When I look at, you know, all the different social experiences, it just seems like there should be one like this."
Meta has been on what some executives call a "weenies" diet this year. After a year of bloat, the company faced increasing pressure to cut back, leading to the firm laying off a grand total of 21,000 employees since last November. Zuckerberg and CFO Susan Li on Wednesday reiterated Meta's goal of disciplined habits, and stressed that despite Threads massive success, everyone should expect to see Meta focusing on A.I. and the metaverse. Notably, its metaverse division again reported billions of dollars in losses and a 2-year low in revenue.
Shares of Meta were up roughly 7% in after hours trading on Wednesday, driven by the company's 11% increase in revenue, which was ahead of Wall Street expectations.
"It's been a tough year in a lot of ways, but it's also been an impactful one. I'm quite optimistic about the road ahead and thankful to you all for being on this journey with us," Zuckerberg said.
