Meta’s Twitter rival Threads appears to be struggling to hold on to users as its daily active user count is down by about four-fifth since its launch – just days after it broke records as the fastest-growing app ever. Within a few days of its launch, Instagram’s threads reached 100 million users, making it the most rapidly growing app ever developed. In comparison, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which was the previous fastest-growing app, took two months to reach 100 million users. Growing at such a rapid rate, Threads easily became the leading competitor of X (formerly Twitter) with about three times as many users as all other rivals combined within hours of launching. But new data assessed by market research firm Sensor Tower suggests Threads is facing challenges in retaining its user base. The firm’s analysis points out that the daily active user count of Threads is down by 82 per cent since the app’s launch as of 31 July, CNN reported. Fewer users are opening the app and doing so less frequently, apart from spending less time there, according to Sensor Tower. Citing the market research firm, CNN said users spent barely three minutes per day on Threads, compared to nearly 20 minutes during its initial launch. Analysis by another firm Similarweb also pointed out that Threads is struggling to retain its users. While the app’s usage peaked on 7 July – immediately after its launch – with over 49 million daily active users on Android alone, this number had fallen to 12.6 million by 23 July, according to a blog post by Similarweb. At its peak, Threads reportedly had over a third of X’s audience on that platform, but by 23 July, this had dropped to about 12 per cent of the users on the Elon Musk-owned platform. Sensor Tower noted that Threads’ daily active user count is still falling at about 1 per cent each day. “Threads took off like a rocket, with its close linkage to Instagram as the booster. However, the developers of Threads will need to fill in missing features and add some new and unique ones if they want to make checking the app a daily habit for users,” Similarweb noted in its blog post. Despite falling numbers, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is “quite optimistic” about the app, intending now to focus on “retention and improving the basics”, according to CNN. “And then after that, we’ll focus on growing the community to the scale we think is possible,” Mr Zuckerberg said. Read More Meta is secretly building an AI chatbot with the personality of Abraham Lincoln Are you a Facebook user? Here’s how to claim your share of $725m settlement in privacy lawsuit Elon Musk red-faced as police halt Twitter sign removal leaving company called ‘ER’ Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order Meta is secretly building an AI chatbot with the personality of Abraham Lincoln Here’s how to claim your share of $725m settlement in Facebook’s privacy lawsuit

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A new Tesla ad shared on social media claiming to feature Ryan Reynolds has come to the attention of Elon Musk – only, it’s not real and instead it's completely fabricated through the use of deepfake technology. Tesla CEO Musk replied to Twitter user @meetRealKevin after he posted a video that jokingly claimed to feature Reynolds as the new face of the company. "How much do you think it would cost to own a car that’s this f***ing awesome?!” the fake Reynolds says in the clip. He then adds: “Whose balls do I have to fondle to get a Tesla instead of a s*** Corolla?” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Musk replied to the clip by commenting with the word “nice”, simultaneously bringing it to the attention of his millions of followers. It wasn’t long until the shoe was on the other foot, though. Digital marketing agency Maximum Effort, which was been co-founded by Reynolds, then posted a deepfake video which sees an artificial version of Musk promoting Reynolds’ company Aviation Gin. Reynolds’ response? The actor simply added the comment “nice”. It’s not the first time stories about Musk and deepfakes have made headlines over recent times. Photos of Elon Musk kissing a female humanoid robot has gone viral, but everything is not as it seems. In fact, four AI-generated images of Musk kissing three different “wife” robots and dancing with one other female-looking humanoids have been shared far and wide online. It comes after Reynolds appeared to troll celebrity pal Taylor Swift over recent rumours that she's dating The 1975's Matty Healy. In a post to his Instagram Stories, the 'Deadpool' actor shared a selfie of himself and chose to include The 1975’s hit song "Chocolate," for the music. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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