Our social media managers’ first impressions of Threads
It’s been a wild 24 hours in social media land with the unexpected early arrival of Threads, Meta’s competitor to Twitter. Just last week, we sent out our monthly email update suggesting it was looking to launch in the US summer, or at some point this month. The fact that they just dropped it on us overnight was something else. (In truth, they actually “launched” Threads in 2019 but it fizzled.)
Download figures were in the millions within hours, and we were all curious to see which number adopter we were. Meta cleverly linked Instagram and Threads feeds together and gave Threads members a temporary badge for their Instagram profile — you’re dealing with 850277 here 👋🏻
How’s the shameless Threads profile plug?
Our Head of Social, Bea, deep dived into the app last night and wrote a great wrap-up of the last 24 hours with all you need to know and who has jumped on the bandwagon. (Conversation starter: is it merely a bandwagon?)
First thing this morning, our #socialmediateam channel on Slack was going off, and our social media managers have some thoughts! Here are our team’s first impressions of Threads:
Threads’ branding linking with Instagram’s primary colour-way.
Sarah, Social Media Manager: I am (scarily) old enough to remember when Twitter launched and how it was such a nice, collaborative, educational space. You met likeminded people and learnt things and it was an enjoyable place to spend time. I don't know if Threads can capture the same magic that Twitter had in the early days, but it was certainly fun watching it unfold yesterday. I suspect there are just far too many platforms now for it to have the same impact.
Nick, Co-Founder: Threads is a real positive vibe right now, but it's just like being the first ones down a ski slope after fresh snow. It won't take long for it to get chopped up. I just hope it doesn't get smashed with ads, bots and trolls. Feels like the link with Instagram might help minimise that though.
Keely, Social Media Manager: I spoke to one of my Gen Z friends (she’s a 2001 baby and still uses Snapchat religiously) and asked if she knew what Threads was and if she was going to download it. Short answer was '“Is it baby Twitter?” and “No I don’t plan on downloading it.” She also mentioned that she feels fatigued by all the apps copying each other. She said to her, Threads feels like the Notes function on Instagram which she said she hates and knows of a lot of other people that hate it. She also went on to mention how it irritates her all the apps copy each other because right now she feels like Instagram is becoming TikTok, and it’s ironic because pictures not videos seem to be trending on TikTok. She also mentioned that she loved BeReal when it was trending because it felt like what Instagram was supposed to be back in 2014.”
Kirsty, Senior Social Media Manager: After years in the industry, it’s difficult not to feel cynical about the launch of another new platform! (Anyone else remember Periscope?!) It will be interesting to see how the platform develops over the coming months, with the close integration of Threads and Instagram being a massive driver of its success. Although I enjoy the discovery aspect, a Following feed would be a welcome addition for the opportunity to switch between discovery and familiarity. I’d love to see brands bring their personality to the table and generate authentic conversations that place the community at the forefront and brand messaging secondary (or not at all). Brands that are willing to be brave and step out of their traditional marketing comfort zone will win on Threads.
Sophie, Senior Social Media Manager: I love writing so naturally Threads should be a good fit for me. I remember my social media university lecturer dividing up social media platforms by who uses them, and she clearly said that if you’re a writer, you should be on Twitter. I had Twitter in high school but screwed my nose up when she said this and never signed up. It’s a surprise then that I was eager to download Threads yesterday — obviously now being a social media manager, it makes sense — and was curiously scrolling this morning. I found myself adopting a somewhat Twitter mindset of following people that I wouldn’t on other platforms like Instagram, where the focus is visual content. I’m a little ruthless when it comes to following people; I often don’t feel obliged even when I know people. I’ve up-weighted the desire for good content over following for the sake of it. On Threads, I followed personalities like the Kardashian sisters because I was curious to see how they’d use it, even though I don’t follow them on Instagram. Like Kirsty said, I am super intrigued about how brands are using it and stepping outside of their brand guidelines shell. The winners will be those who take risks, for sure. It’ll just be a matter of figuring out your multi-platform strategy!
Holly, Social Media Manager: I’m not into Threads. It's just Twitter.