Twitter Hangs by a Thread
With Twitter facing what seems like daily backlash, there hasn’t been a better time for a competitor platform to launch… enter Threads!
Meta’s answer to Twitter, Threads, offers brands the opportunity for longer form story-telling, something Twitter’s 280-character limit could never do.
But is Threads here to stay, and should brands consider having a presence on this platform? Here are our thoughts…
The challenge for so many new and emerging social platforms has been building an audience. Brands normally need to start their following from scratch with a growth and awareness strategy. Threads, however, comes with your Instagram audience already built in - a huge benefit for platform adoption from brands.
Whilst many are comparing Threads to Twitter, there are notable differences that’ll impact a brand’s platform strategy. Firstly, Threads’ algorithm aligns with Meta, as opposed to a chronological Twitter feed. The lack of a chronological feed means even if brands are posting reactively in real-time, it’ll be difficult to remain hyper-relevant. Secondly, Threads currently has limited discoverability for brands, there’s no ‘explore’ or ‘trending’ section or even the ability to search for a specific topic. This means that brands will need to make their organic strategy work even harder, creating content that’s going to stop thumbs from scrolling.
Whilst Threads has a list of features to implement before brands should start taking the new platform seriously, we suggest brands create a profile to start testing and learning now. Don’t rush the social strategy, especially whilst the platform (and audience on there) still finds its feet, and most importantly, don’t rip off the existing Twitter strategy. Whilst both platforms look similar, they are not.
With the right tone of voice, there’s an opportunity to leverage Threads to secure earned PR, following in the footsteps of other social platforms. Brands succeeding on the platform so far have taken a playful and lighter tone, so if this aligns with the overall brand strategy, it could be time to jump in.