4 min read
Staying on top of new trends in the social media landscape can be daunting – with what feels like frequent buzzy new services that promise to reshape how we communicate.
A standout sensation this last summer has been Threads, the latest ambitious project from Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta.
Launched on July 5, 2023, as an apparent response to Twitter’s (we mean X’s) previous popularity and current instability, Threads offers a new application to share text-based thoughts with audiences. It quickly set records as the fastest-growing app in history, with more than 100 million users believed to have signed up in less than five days.
But now that the initial excitement has died down, is Threads here to stay? And most importantly, should your business adopt this shiny new platform into your marketing strategy?
In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Threads: its features, benefits, and downsides. Keep reading to discover whether you should adopt Threads into your daily digital routine.
How does Threads work?
This platform has a relatively intuitive and user-friendly interface – especially for users familiar with Twitter scrolling. (Ahem, now known as X!)
Your Threads feed will include a mix of posts from people you choose to follow, combined with suggestions from creators that the algorithm thinks will pique your interest.
And while it looks similar to X’s plain and simple format, there’s a major difference: while Tweets (or posts, as X calls them now) are capped at 280 characters, Threads allows posts with a maximum 500 character limit. You can also include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes long.
(If you’re confused about the lingo used on this app – Meta posted a handy Threads dictionary to provide clarity!)
Meta has also integrated Threads with your Instagram profile in numerous ways:
- Your username from Instagram carries over.
- You can choose to follow the same accounts on Instagram.
- Your Instagram followers get notified when you sign up for Threads.
- Instagram users can see Threads posts on their Instagram home feeds.
- Users can simultaneously post their Threads content to their Instagram stories and feeds.
But this application is very much a work in progress! Meta is constantly making new updates to Threads’ functionality as users provide feedback. For example, in recent weeks, they’ve announced that they’re testing keyword searches and rolling out a web experience.
Should you join Threads?
Can this platform be a valuable communication tool? And more importantly, should you or your business really sign up?
While the hype around Threads may be just a passing fad, we can’t fully predict that right now.
So, rather than possibly missing out on a great opportunity, try to test it and add the application to your marketing plan. Why not use this new format to play around, be creative, and experiment with different text-based marketing tactics?
You can use Threads to start conversations and connect meaningfully with your target audience. That two-way dialogue can help you get game-changing customer feedback and insights to improve your products and services. Experimentation can also help you tweak your overall marketing strategy for other platforms and formats.
With all this customer input, you build a loyal customer base that cares about your business. The format of Threads provides a robust surface for co-creating and collaborating with others and for truly being social. This can help you incorporate more user-generated content or influencer partnerships into your wheelhouse and raise your brand recognition to new heights.
Are there any downsides to embracing Threads?
Like anything in life, the answer is complicated: many Threads features could be considered a pro or a con, depending on your goals and needs.
For example, Meta has purposefully designed Threads to focus less on news and politics. They want to create a positive atmosphere concentrated on more fun and light topics like sports, entertainment, music, beauty, and fashion.
If you’re a brand looking to make a societal impact or showcase your values, finding your community in that space might be more challenging. News also drives up engagement – so a lack of it might negatively impact your audience size.
But on the flip side, this decision can help reduce polarization and help businesses maintain a more neutral online presence. It can also help them find a more targeted audience interested in their niche.
Businesses should also know that Threads isn’t currently available in Europe. This means you can only communicate with some of your target audience if you are a globally-focused brand on Threads.
Additionally, businesses can’t currently purchase advertisements on the Threads app – which definitely sucks! Although that’s likely to change, and while you wait, there’s a massive silver lining to joining before ads become an option.
You can leverage this opportunity to experiment, drive organic growth, and focus on building a dedicated community on an app that isn’t cluttered with excessive sales noise.
Despite the potential challenges, many brands have already joined Threads, like Marvel Entertainment, CNN, and Wendy’s. They’ve found tremendous value in using the app to bring humour, personality, and humanity to their business.
Threads Is Entering The “Fediverse” Through Open Social Networking
When Meta launched Threads, they announced their intent to make the application compatible with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)’s open social media networking protocol ActivityPub.
Many Internet users have long advocated for a more “open web.” They want a digital space where users can use and access all of its content without restrictions from corporate and government gatekeepers.
That’s where open social networking and the fediverse come in! A combo of the words “federated” and “universe,” the fediverse is a network of interconnected social media platforms that work together to share content and give users more flexibility.
As part of Meta’s commitment to implementing ActivityPub into Threads and joining the fediverse, they will make their platform “interoperable.” This means that Threads users can interact with users on other platforms as if they’re on the same application. Threads will also have more portable data since Meta plans to let users transfer their Threads content to another service if they want to switch platforms.
Other well-known applications that have joined the fediverse include WordPress and Mastodon, with Tumblr also announcing they’ll be joining.
Why should you care about this as a business?
Participating in an open social networking platform can allow businesses to widen their audience reach – since it won’t just be one particular application’s users accessing their content,
Ultimately, this can enhance your online visibility while making marketing more cost-effective – since you can move content easily between platforms, giving you more agility regarding your content strategy and shifting if needed.
It’s important to note that participating on open social platforms can raise privacy concerns and security risks. Companies need to strategically work to mitigate these threats so they can still harness the benefits.
Work With Us To Harness Threads For Better Marketing Results
While Threads might be enjoying its moment in the spotlight, it’s uncertain whether it’ll maintain its popularity or dwindle into obscurity. Or whether it will replace X as the new go-to text-based social media platform.
Despite a promising start, Threads already lost more than half its initial users by the end of July 2023. Although Meta is now focusing on retention, they don’t seem to be worried about the future of this new app. They’re going full steam ahead with making adjustments and building its functionality.
Given the success of apps like Facebook and Instagram, it’s safe to assume that Threads isn’t going anywhere. So, if your business wants to remain relevant, it’s crucial to join the conversation where it’s happening.
Navigating a new social media platform to a marketing roster can be daunting. At Clash Creative, we provide comprehensive content marketing services to address all of your copywriting and content creation needs. For Threads or other apps, the social media experts at Clash Creative can handle the intricacies of building and executing a robust social media strategy.
Book a call today and work with us to optimize your social media profiles for greater success.
Copywriter at Clash Creative
