Threads: Meta’s Twitter Competitor and How Brands Leverage the New Text-Based Platform

When Meta, the parent company of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, first announced they were releasing Threads, it was immediately apparent the new platform was designed to compete with then-Twitter (Now “X”), as the features looked eerily familiar but with Instagram’s classic functionality. Trending on Twitter was the phrase “How to get Meta’s Threads” for a short time, potentially showing the writing on the wall for Elon Musk’s platform. 

Threads was first accessed via Instagram, and Instagram users were privileged to be the first in line when creating a Threads account as an extension of their Instagram accounts. But just as quickly as Threads’ download count skyrocketed into the millions, just a few months later, more than half of its users have either left the platform or become inactive. Faster than most could even utter “What is Meta’s Threads?” users were jumping ship. So what does this mean for Threads’ longevity as a platform? Here are the things you must know if your brand is eyeing Meta’s Threads as a future advertising outlet.

Threads is a new social platform, developed by Instagram’s core development team, and designed to be a place where content creators can post text updates, attach images and videos, and tag locations, similar to Instagram but without the requirement to attach a piece of media. This is essentially the same functionality that Twitter touted for over a decade.

X continues in that format under Elon Musk. With a very public feud between Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, it was only a matter of time before the former put his opponent in the crosshairs and released a competing app.

Threads is available in the AppStore and Google Play but is only offered to users with an Instagram account. Brands possessing an active Instagram account can choose to port over their Instagram bio to Threads, including shop and website links. Threads is a shared-login system like Instagram as well, so anyone with the company Instagram login should also be able to manage Threads.

As of this writing, there is no current ad structure in Threads, meaning it is completely ad-free. This was by design, as the creators of Threads wanted users to embrace the platform immediately without worry of being hit with excessive advertising. There are still too few users for Meta to find an ads platform viable.

In the coming months, however, Meta plans include rolling out several new features in order to attract their current dormant users, and new users fed up with Musk’s changes on X.

For those of us that have known Facebook since its birth, before it had an ads platform, we reminisce about how the term “organic reach” didn’t exist. If you managed to scrape together a few hundred page likes, your posts delivered to that entire audience. Such is life for Threads, currently, as only a tiny fraction of Instagram influencers’ audiences are also on Threads. 

To be more direct: No, at the present time, attempting to send marketing messages on Threads is a futile effort. There simply aren’t enough users here to move the needle. A big “however” would be that Meta has the resources to pour into the platform, and brands should consider at least extending their post content. If Threads manages to weather the storm and start building steady users, brands that were there from the beginning will have the advantage of an audience acquisition head start.

While not being able to advertise on Threads, the potential for brand posts to display in Google Search Results is there, so brands looking to improve their SEO through social posts should consider posting to Threads in a semi-frequent manner.

For starters, Threads is still only available to users with an active Instagram account, while X is available to anyone with an email address or phone number. Additionally, Threads is only available as a mobile app, while X is available from a desktop and web browser. Here are a few other key differences between Meta’s Threads, and Musk’s X:

• Threads currently doesn’t have a feature for discovering accounts, but has a simple text search box to find your friends and favorite accounts. X has advanced content discovery options with its Explore function.
• X offers a subscription plan for accounts, where exclusive content can be posted behind a paywall for notable accounts. Threads currently has no subscription plans of any kind.
• Early adopters of Threads can enjoy their scrolling experience ad-free, while X currently features a multitude of paid ad options.
• X offers polls as an additional posting format for text, image, link, and video posts.
• Threads supports links in posts, while this functionality is reserved only for boosted posts on Instagram, but has been a feature of Twitter and X for many years.

While we have yet to see a cage match between its founders materialize, Threads and X are very much in a battle for users’ attention. At the moment, the future is uncertain. Both Threads and X have their problems, and both are struggling to gain the infatuation of their youngest audience segments.

The judges will need to see more rounds of this battle in the coming months and maybe years. At present, neither X nor the newcomer Threads is shutting down.

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