UPDATE 8/25: Threads for the web is rolling out now. Visit threads.net/login to log in with your Instagram account. The interface looks similar to the mobile app, with the main feed, search bar, compose icon, notifications, and access to your profile up top. For dark mode, click the menu on the top right and select Switch appearance. Move between your "Following" and an algorithmic "For you" feed on the bottom left.
Original Story 8/22:Meta's Twitter competitor will soon no longer be confined to mobile.
Mark Zuckerberg today confirmed that the desktop version of Threads will start rolling out this week. "Actual footage of me building Threads for web. Rolling out over the next few days," the Meta CEO wrote on Threads next to a photo of him in his Harvard dorm room.
Meta provided screenshots showing what the experience will look like. Like the app, you still sign in with your Instagram account on the web. The desktop version will presumably be available on Threads.net. Currently, the web version lets you read tweets from other users via direct links (like Zuck's above), but you can't post to the site or view your timeline.
“The Threads team is working hard to bring this experience to parity with mobile and will be adding more functionality to the web experience in the coming weeks,” the company says.
The desktop version arrives as user interest in Threads has plummeted since the social media platform launched on July 5 for iOS and Android. According to Similarweb, visits to Threads via Android peaked on July 7 at 49.3 million daily active users. But since then, traffic has fallen to 10.3 million daily active users for a 79% decrease.
For Android, the average amount of time spent on Threads has also drastically decreased from 21 minutes per day to a mere 3 minutes. “For comparison, X (formerly Twitter) has more than 100 million daily active users on Android alone, and they consistently spend about 25 minutes per day on it,” Similarweb adds.
The numbers don’t bode well for the fledgling social media platform. But a desktop version could make it easier to access Threads throughout the day, especially for office workers, thus improving both user visits and time spent.