Threads launched.. How is it different than Twitter? Here's what to know....

My takeaways from Instagram's latest Twitter competitor "Threads".

Listen for me discussing Threads on Tod Maffin's "Today in Digital Marketing" daily marketing-news podcast, here!

Hello!!! hi!!! how are you?? I’m good except the fact that being successful and innovating in the technology sector means literally copying your competitor and coming up with zero ideas of your own! Here we are!

Instagram has officially launched it’s Twitter clone, Threads in the app store, I’ve been on the app for an hour and here’s my current takeaways that stand out. Take from it what you will. I’m sort of in a rush to get this out so I’ll post some more thoughts later…

My TLDR: The novelty of Threads is exciting for today, but how long will that last? Ultimately most social and content platforms will face the same challenges of bleeding user bases, which you can read more about in my piece “State of Social Media 2023: Goodbye Scale, Hello Magic!”. However, Threads is especially prone to this because of the lack of discovery on the platform. There is no trending topics, no way to search topics (only users), no hashtags, no way to toggle to chronological feed of only people you follow and ultimately we are at the mercy of whatever the algorithm wants to feed us.

There’s no doubt Instagram is able to capitalize off of its massive user base to make Threads an instant success, but here are some of my other takeaways:

• Threads will be massive for Meta for the first 6 months. Like every Instagram rollout, Instagram has already carefully onboarded creators for early access. Instagram has also shown through their previous rollouts, they know how to boost and prioritize certain types of content they want their users creating. We saw this most recently with Reels and also with Stories and story stickers. Threads provides the perfect mix of novelty as a new platform and new way to connect with your Instagram followers but also familiarity, as it is a carbon copy of Twitter. Users are already trained to create and consume this way. 

• Meta has shown it can garner usage and build momentum for ~6 months. The release of Threads absolutely rides on Twitter’s “downfall”. I would not recommend taking any numbers from press releases or public statements until after 6 months minimum.

• The question Threads will need to solve is where Twitter has failed: how will Threads handle trust and safety? How safe will it feel? How will misinformation be managed? Not only are these questions important for users and user growth, but also for advertisers and their willingness to move ad dollars.

  • I was on Threads for less than an hour and already saw a video of a guy sucking his own d**, haven’t seen that on Twitter (thank god), but Threads definitely has some trust and safety issues to work out there…

• The other questions that Threads will need to solve for is” How easy will it be to discover new content and how easy will it be for creators to make money?

  • There are NO hashtags and NO trending topics. You cannot search for topics (only users). Discovery is solely on Threads to serve you content it think you’ll like.

• I predict the first 6 months will be the most opportune time for brands to maximize their reach and advertisers to see cheap CPM (once ads are launched).

• Threads long-term success will depend on our willingness to stand up and ask for 3 very important things from Meta and every new social and content platform of the future:

  • Interoperability of content and audiences contact information off of Threads

  • Full access to their own data and ability to export views, likes, shares, impressions and growth numbers.

  • Share of advertising revenue.

• The tension of users/creators vs social platforms is at an all time high and there once enough time passes, Threads will have to answer the same questions every social media platform will be asked of. There is a massive uprising coming (if it hasn’t already started)

• There’s no DMs or messenger feature. Which is preferred for me, personally because I never check DMs. However, any collaborations or way to work with brands/creators has to be done out in the open or on Instagram DM.

  

  And I’ll leave you with some great advice from my friend Kai (which I wish I could embed here but Twitter won’t let us anymore)… “DO NOT CLICK FOLLOW ALL PEOPLE YOU FOLLOW ON IG during onboarding”.

Now go follow me, on threads @lizhagelthorn bye!!!

pssst! PostMarket is launching some exciting features in the next few weeks and would love for any social peeps out there to try. Join our private beta here.

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