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Most of us are already on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and many other platforms. But as if that’s not enough there’s a new social media platform in town. It’s called Threads and has is Meta’s answer to Twitter.
With so many social media platforms to manage you’d be forgiven for sighing and wondering whether you should sign up to another one. Threads, which launched on 5 July, garnered over 30 million users (and counting) within three days of launching so with such potential and popularity it’s becoming difficult to ignore.
Here’s why you should care:
It allows you to say more
Threads has been described as a cross between Twitter and Instagram. ‘It’s Twitteresque in the sense that you post one message at a time, of up to 500 characters (compared with only 280 characters on Twitter), and you can include links, photos and videos up to five minutes in length (compared with two minutes and 20 seconds on Twitter).
It’s Instagram-like in that the photos and video are hero content over text, though, like Twitter, you can post text without visuals. And its integration with Instagram is flawless. You can easily set up an account on your phone,’ says Tara Turkington, CEO of Flow Communications.
Turkington points out there’s no desktop version of Threads yet – much like the way Instagram started out back in 2010.
It can help you gain followers quicker
It’s very easy to set up and get started. You can import your bio, profile image, and followers seamlessly from Instagram inviting them to follow when they join Threads. Turkington explains there are advantages to getting in early: ‘This is one thing Threads really has going for it – by helping ordinary people gain followers quicker than on any platform in history, it is tapping into rewarding and addictive releases of dopamine, a feel-good hormone long documented as being associated with social media consumption.
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‘Joining Threads is going to be unavoidable for marketers, influencers, and any brand that already has an audience on Twitter or Instagram. My advice is to get on as quickly as possible because there is an early-mover advantage – as we saw when Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram launched – and you are likely to attract exponentially more followers (and therefore ultimately wield more clout on the platform) than if you join in a month or two’s time.’
There are cons to Threads…
Like anything, there are some disadvantages to being on Threads. ‘While it’s the coolest new thing, Threads is seriously limited in functionality. There’s no way to search Threads yet, so hashtags aren’t yet a thing.
‘For now, you have to have an Instagram account to start a Threads account. And although you can deactivate a Threads account, you cannot delete it without deleting your Instagram account.’
You also can’t trend yet, as celebrity Usher discovered recently when he asked if he was trending when Keke Palmer’s boyfriend got upset on Twitter about her outfit at Usher’s concert in Las Vegas.
But this functionality could be added soon. Meta announced on the On the Meta news 5 July: ‘In addition to working toward making Threads compatible with the ActivityPub protocol, soon we’ll be adding a number of new features to help you continue to discover threads and creators you’re interested in, including improved recommendations in feed and a more robust search function that makes it easier to follow topics and trends in real-time.’
Another negative, according to The Guardian, is that people see a mixture of posts from accounts they’re following but also from random ones. Meta claims it’s simply making some algorithmic recommendations, according to The Guardian’s report, but nothing has yet been said about whether this will continue or not.
At the time of writing you can’t send direct messages either, but not all would view this as a disadvantage. For now, Threads doesn’t have ads yet but, again, this could change in the future.
There’s no denying that Threads is an exciting addition to the social media landscape. Whether Threads is the right social media platform for you ultimately depends on your preferences, needs, and willingness to embrace a new digital community.
