Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard a bit about Threads. It is a new social media platform that is an offshoot of Instagram and has been compared to the next big thing in social media. It is akin to Twitter, now known as (X), a text-based microblogging platform with a simple design and easy-to-use interface. Threads is supposed to be the kinder, more loving version of Twitter (X), which many describe as a hell-scape of words or a great place to commiserate.
The tone and landscape of Threads are supposed to be the exact opposite. It is an offshoot of Instagram, which is a well-known photo-sharing platform that is popular among influencers, celebrities, micro-celebrities, and brands. Instagram exudes positivity, but it is also known for being perfectly coifed and curated. Instagram, which was once a social media darling, has been seen as stale or overplayed by influencers and youngsters alike. It has become a place where being perfect has become too much of a goal, and that has led to some people forgetting about the app or disbanding from the platform all together.
In 2020, TikTok came onto the scene in earnest and changed up the game. Though the app existed before then, 2020 was the first year that it appeared on people’s radar and became a true topic of conversation. Influencers flocked to the video-sharing app as it was a popular way to pass the time and show what you were up to during the pandemic. It gained a cult following as the app was less curated than the likes of Instagram and Youtube, but it was not as unhinged as Twitter (X), or niche as the one-hit wonder of Clubhouse. Of course, not everyone wants to share video after video, which is why Twitter (X) has always had staying power. There is something about just sharing your quick, unfiltered thoughts with a community that old Twitter (X) captured, even if it was not the most friendly place.
An Opportunity Presents Itself.
An opportunity came recently to reshape the Meta brand as Twitter (X) started to slowly fall apart. Since late October of 2022, Twitter (X) has undergone a plethora of changes. This includes server changes, rate limits added, staff layoffs, interface changes, logo changes, and a complete name change. This has sent people quietly searching for the next big thing even those who have been using the micro-text platform for years. Some brands and companies have chose to leave the infamous platform because they no longer had an audience on the platform. Other companies were dissatisfied with the way the new CEO handled and tolerated undesirable speech (speech that was sometimes aimed at small groups and marginalized communities) and felt that staying on the platform would hinder their brand rather than help it. This left a critical gap in the market that needed to be filled.
Where would advertisers go besides the platforms that were already established in the video and short-form spaces?
In the first week of July, Mark Zuckerberg launched Threads into the universe. And it made a big, bold statement. It had over seventy million subscribers on its first day, which was a huge deal. By the end of its first week, one hundred million users were said to be using the platform. And by all accounts, Threads had a positive start, but now people’s opinions about the new platform is a bit of a mix bag. On one hand, people are loving the positive vibes on the app so far. They are loving another space to get their thoughts out and talk about their day. Some are using it as an unfiltered space to share photos they wouldn’t normally share on Instagram or post thoughts or reflections that wouldn’t go on Facebook. It has become a great alternative to being on TikTok all the time. Some are calling it a ‘millennial woman's safe haven’, as people who are in their late twenties or early thirties might not always feel comfortable on TikTok or want to feel like they have to constantly dance, know the latest trends, and be alert when crafting a short-form video.
Threads has brought a bit of synergy and life to Instagram and the overall Meta brand. Meta was once Facebook Inc. but changed its branding to Meta as CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to use the brand as a way to introduce the ‘meta-verse’, a video-game-like space where everyone would come together virtually and grow a virtual online community. However, the meta-verse has yet to take off, and many people thought the idea of augmented reality was ‘too futuristic’. Mark Zuckerberg sunk over a billion dollars into the rebranding of Facebook, but it fell short of expectations. This also inadvertently led to the company ending up doing massive layoffs to recalibrate, which also caused some frustration and outrage. Threads, as a brand, has somewhat course-corrected the mistake of ‘going all in’ on the meta-verse. Threads has brought a safe haven for former Twitter (X) users and a new sense of community to people who wanted more than just a photo-sharing app. It has also given brands a second home, especially those who use Twitter (X) heavily and do not want to be in a space so focused on politics and news.
But not everyone is loving Threads.
While most of this is great news, some people abhor having another social media platform to learn about and become familiar with. People (and brands alike) have been suffering from social media platform fatigue. If you are a social media brand manager, you have to use TikTok, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Youtube, Facebook, Google, Twitch, and more, just to name a few. Plus, there have been so many platforms in recent years that have made waves quickly, only for things to fizzle out due to low traction. This has left people scrambling to find another alternative and then doing the same song and dance again months later. For some, Threads seems like another app on a long list of apps that they have to try but might end up being an app without staying power. It is another app on a long list of apps to repost content on and find followers, and maybe just connections.
In general, new apps have historically had a hard time gaining traction. Last year, everyone was obsessed with BeReal, which was a photo-sharing app that encouraged you to stop what you were doing and take a photo right in the moment. There was so much buzz about this app that both Instagram and TikTok made copycat apps inside their platforms to encourage people to post their candid selfies and videos using their version of the app. But people don’t use BeReal as much anymore. Interest fizzled as times changed, and TikTok quietly got rid their version of the app due to a lack of ongoing interest.
Then there was Clubhouse, an audio-sharing app where people could go and meet others in the same niche, field, or profession and discuss current events and topics. It was very popular at first, achieving millions of signups during its first week. But no one knew how to capitalize on it. The app fizzled out once the heydays of lockdown subsided and people did not need to stay strictly at home anymore. Another app that has gained some traction but has not fully taken off yet is Lemon 8. This app is a cross between Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter (X). People use it casually for microblogging and picture-sharing. It gained notoriety as a quirky alternative to TikTok when people thought that TikTok would be banned in the States. However, the ban never came, and the app never made the waves that brands and influencers had hoped it would.
Still, the question that really needs answers is: can you really replace the once-there magic of Twitter?
There is much to be said about the heyday of Twitter (X) and the community it provided for a lot of people. It was akin to a public square where anyone could join, unfiltered, uncurated, and with just their unhinged thoughts. It was a place where many different groups could find community and interest with others from their fields, other careers, and other niche interests. You had people who were from academia, publishing, law, business, commerce, and healthcare all commingling, sharing, and talking all at once. It was also a great place to go for breaking news. It was a place where people could gather and find others who were interested in starting a petition, bringing a serious topic to light, and finding others who had common ground to start a movement. Twitter (X) is still around, but the spark is no longer the same, and with people leaving or limiting their time on the platform, it is hard to imagine the app’s future. And it does not look like things will revert back to the way things were anytime soon.
Do Threads Have Staying Power?
There have been several text-based alternatives that have somewhat stumbled into the wide world of the internet. This includes Spill, a curated platform for texting and sharing. Spoutible. The Hive. Mastodon. Plus the highly anticipated (still very exclusive) Bluesky. None has captured the magic or essence of Twitter (X). Nevertheless, Threads has shown the potential to stay part of the conversation more so than other apps that have came before. There are plenty of things that make Threads work and give it the potential to shine above the rest.
Given that Threads is an offshoot of Instagram, we already know that the platform will be brand-friendly and a good place for influencers to congregate. Advertisers and brands already know and like Instagram, so they would naturally be more open to using this new text space as long as it is continuously moderated and kept that way as it grows and inevitably attracts more and more community. It is also still very much limited to a core American audience though it is available in some other countries. This can be a good thing, as it can be used as a beta launch to test out the kinks of the site along with the performance of the app. Internally, one can see what people are responding to and not responding to and make some adjustments and tweaks before going fully global. This could be crucial to get right before a more global rollout and more users get added and bring their own sets of standards, behaviors, needs, and wants.
However, there are things that can sink the platform. For one, the platform is not really the best for privacy. It requested that users fork over a ton of personal and private data in order to use the platform. It is also not the best app for every circle or group. Some might find it best for certain conversations, like branded conversations or work-related conversations, which might make it harder for people in other more harder to access spaces (i.e., academia) to find community or to thrive there. Additionally, some people are calling it too ‘cheugy’— a backhanded compliment that the app might feel too millennial. That might mean that for younger, more active individuals, it might feel outdated or out of style. For some, the cringe aspect of sharing unfiltered, but through a filtered lens, thoughts at all times might be enough to turn them off from the app entirely.
Unfortunately, Threads also has been slowly losing users. The high numbers reported in the beginning have significantly leveled off. One hundred million users initially signed up to use the platform and now only Fifty million are on the platform with about thirteen million daily active users. All the while Twitter (X) has maintain a steady number of two hundred million users who use the platform. This shows that there is still some interest in using Threads, but it has not become the main part of people’s social media habits and consumption especially when it comes to other apps.
It is too early to tell how Threads will fare in the long run. It is novel at the moment, and some people are still eyeing to have an alternative to Twitter (X), and also a safe space to publicly share their thoughts and feelings without the pressure to get on camera. It is an app to pay attention to and have on your radar. It will most likely grow and become a topic of conversation for some time. It has the bandwidth to keep growing even among all the recent snafus. Ultimately, the success of the app will be determined by its users (and its owner), and that will be what will shape the platform going forward.