Threads: let’s talk about it.

Remember when Mark Zuckerberg tried to buy Twitter in 2008 for a boat load of cash, and they declined his offer? That’s Threads’ villain origin story. Since then, Zuck has been holding a grudge and today, officially launched Threads: a Twitter-inspired, meta-linked social platform.

This launch comes just in time, as Twitter announced new updates that has led to many users jumping ship. Anyways, back to Threads…

Threads is a text-based companion app to Instagram, made by the Instagram team. Inspired by Twitter’s structure, Threads encourages text posts with the option to upload images + gifts, and is built on conversation. 

As an Instagram-made platform, users seamlessly set up an account, sync profiles, and follow the same people in a few easy steps all through their Instagram account (which is required in order to sign up). So, unlike some other Twitter-like platforms trying to launch, Threads has the advantage of leveraging existing users on Instagram.

How should brands launch on to Threads?

As of now, monetization is allegedly not in the roadmap. This will be interesting for brands who typically pay to play.

“Threads is about public conversations.” According to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri , “We’re hoping to bring some of what we’ve built for photos and videos on Instagram to Threads with text.”

As a marketer, what this tells us is that authenticity, quick response time, and fun will be top of mind when posting on behalf of brands. Think about the discourse that some brands have with each other on Twitter – like that, but not between brands. From a first day’s perspective, it looks like Threads will be best utilized to learn from your consumers, create conversation, and establish brand love. Right now, it’s very much the wild wild west, and this will likely change as brands evolve and establish content pillars.

 While it is very new, it’s ultra important to jump on this as soon as you can – even if you’re just jumping in blind. According to Meta’s launch page, Threads has communicated that their goal down the road is to “be compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the internet.” 

Also, unlike other new social media apps, accounts already jump to high follower counts because of the linking to Instagram. This is very beneficial because brands tend to struggle when they switch to platforms such as TikTok, when their follower count starts at 0.