In an internal town hall meeting, Zuckerberg said that the retention on the app was "better than what the executives had expected, but it was not perfect".

Despite the drop in users, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the app's retention rates improving as more features are added to the app.

Threads, which allows users to post text and links and reply to or repost messages from others, is similar to Twitter's offering.

The app lets users port over their existing follower lists and account names from Instagram, Meta's photo and video-sharing app that counts major brands, celebrities, and creators among its more than 2 billion users.

Data from online traffic service SimilarWeb revealed that daily visits to Threads dropped from 49 million to 23.6 million within a week of the platform's launch.

The report said that Thread's audience is about 22 percent the size of Twitter's.

Notably, Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned 'X', formerly Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of the world's biggest social media platforms, despite its struggles.

Despite the drop in users, Meta is looking at adding more retention-driving hooks to entice users to return to the app.

The company is hopeful that adding more features will help improve the app's retention rates and attract more users.

Overall, the drop in user engagement on Threads is a setback for Meta, but the company remains optimistic about the app's future.

With more features and improvements, Meta is hopeful that Threads will be able to attract and retain more users.