After months of users trying to figure out what the heck was happening with Twitter, Meta is here to fill the Twitter void with their latest app, Threads. If you’re not familiar with Threads, it’s Meta’s Twitter competitor app. Threads launched on July 5, 2023 and brought an excitement to the internet that was missing. Not only did it receive 30 million sign-ups on the morning of the release, but it broke the record for the fastest growing app. Creators, brands, celebrities, etc. were quickly signing up and posting within minutes of joining.
Now that Threads is almost two weeks old, do we think it has what it takes to take out Twitter? Only time will tell, but for now we will break down Threads in our latest Meta social media guide. Here, you’ll discover how Threads works, how to create an effective Threads content strategy, engagement insights, and more!
Threads is the newest app built by Instagram. Threads was made for users to share text updates and participate in online conversation threads. It works very similarly to the old Twitter before Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022.
How to Sign Up: As of now you can’t sign up for a Threads account without an Instagram account. To create your account, you download the Threads app and sign up with your Instagram login.
How to Post: You can post directly from the app’s homepage by tapping the ‘pencil’ icon on the bottom navigation bar.
Post Restrictions: Your post can be up to 500 characters long and include images, links, and videos up to 5 minutes long.
How to Find/Follow Accounts: Your feed is composed of the users you already follow on Instagram. You can also find users by using the search bar on the app or checking their Instagram bio for their Threads id number for direct access to their Threads’ profile.
Threads comes at a time where Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk were publicly feuding on Twitter and made news headlines for challenging each other to a boxing match.
At first glance, Threads looks and works very similarly to Twitter. Both have text-focused news feeds, the option to like posts, along with reposting capabilities. However, Threads uses its own lingo. Check out this Carousel post, “The Threads Dictionary”, to see how Threads is referring to certain actions on the app.
Since Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk last year there have been significant changes regarding the app. The most infamous update was Twitter pivoting their verification model to a paid service. For example, accounts who already had a blue checkmark had to give it up unless they paid for it. For many the cost to maintain your verified Twitter status was too much and caused many creator and brand accounts to give up their checkmark. For all other updates check out our complete list of 2023 Twitter Updates.
Threads is still a new app and will be undergoing a lot of changes in upcoming months. Plus, Twitter is still a popular platform with more than 1 billion users, so it’ll take some time for Threads to get to the same size user base as Twitter.
Kris Jenner, Willow Smith, Betches.com, Hollywood Reporter, Spotify, and more are already on Threads making posts on day one. The newness of Threads is not only great for experimentation, but for creators and brands to test out new ways to engage with their audience. For example, PLANOLY joined Threads when it launched and started posting right away. Much of the content consisted of jokes surrounding the battle between Threads and Twitter, being new to Threads, engaging with other brand accounts, etc. We received a lot of engagement compared to our Twitter channel and Instagram engagement.
However, since its initial release, Threads’ engagement has dropped. But just because app engagement is slowing down doesn’t mean to jump ship quite yet. Keep constantly posting and engaging with other accounts and experiment with your content strategy. The more channels you’re on the better your reach will be.
Here a few Threads from popular accounts:
It’s too soon to say if Threads will wipe out Twitter completely, but it does show a lot of promise. Especially with so many accounts excited about Threads and what it means for the future text based content feeds.
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