Gird your loins for some poor sewing puns as we jump into Threads.
Were you one of the 100 million signups in five days since new social media platform Threads launched last week?
Hands up, we were.
We knew we’d get asked about it, and as a digital marketing agency that is always pushing forward, we wanted to see what it was all about.
Threads unpicked
There are a few things it’s worth noting that are different to other channels – and these could change again quickly as the platform develops…
+ it’s a mobile-only app
+ posts can be up to 500 characters, and can include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes long
+ you can’t edit your posts
+ it’s faffy to switch between accounts
+ if you sign up to Threads, you can’t delete it without deleting your Instagram account
+ the search function only looks for account names, not content
+ hashtags aren’t present so it makes it hard to identify trends or specific content
+ your feed is not chronological, and can include content from accounts you don’t follow
Plus, there is no monetisation! Yet…
To the point
All that sounded a bit negative, but first impressions were good.
Even with the chaotic feed, it felt like a (close knit) community on day one, as everyone seemed to be testing it out. We’ve seen none of the vitriol you often see on Twitter and interestingly, one of the biggest pluses as a personal user has been that brands can’t schedule content to it yet, so it is currently very much a platform of the people. How does that translate for business, though?
It’s clear that if you’re going to use Threads as it stands at the moment, users on this platform want to see you show personality. The brands who already demonstrate this in their social media marketing (like Aldi, for example) are going to find their content translates really well.
One more stitch
One really important thing to note, is that you do not have to be on every social media platform.
The blog we released recently on TikTok (Ten reasons your brand shouldn’t be on TikTok) absolutely holds true for other platforms, including Threads.