Threads, the new SHORT FORM social media app from Meta, is quickly gaining popularity Worldwide. In the few days since its launch, the app has been downloaded by millions of users, including high-profile figures like Oprah Winfrey, AOC and Sarah Jessica Parker. In Australia, examples include journalists like ABC News Australia reporter Patricia Karvelas. There’s been a lot of speculation about how it will impact Twitter. Some people believe that Threads could eventually replace Twitter as the dominant SHORT FORM social media platform for Australian businesses.
What’s driving the popularity of Threads? There are a few reasons. First, Threads has a larger character count making it a more expressive platform than Twitter. Posts on Threads are limited to 500 characters, which encourages users to share more thoughtful and engaging content. Second, Threads is more focused on privacy than Twitter. Users can control who sees their posts, and they can even choose to make their posts disappear after a certain amount of time.
Another reason for Threads’ popularity is that it doesn’t have any ads yet. Meta has said that it plans to introduce ads at some point, but for now, the app is ad-free. This is a major advantage for Threads, as it means that users won’t have to worry about their feed being cluttered with ads, similar to Twitter.
So, what does all of this mean for Twitter? It’s clear that Threads is a serious threat to Twitter’s dominance in Australia. The app has already attracted a large number of users, and it’s only going to get more popular in the coming months. It appears THREADS is going to be something we will be stuck with, so choose wisely. Outlets are now reporting deleting THREADS will DEACTIVATE your INSTAGRAM account. This is going to help guarantee its user growth does not stall in the coming months.
WHY NOW?
META could have pulled the trigger on a SHORT FORM social offering at any time in the last 10 years. It’s not a massive technical feat. One must ask, why now? The truth is META has assessed the sentiment of a large portion of the Western world and figured out that MUSK’s acquisition and subsequent relaxing of censorship rules has disgruntled the left/progressives to the point where a large enough exodus from Twitter would make it worthwhile for META. They are also looking for safer options to expand revenues after the billions squandered on their more speculative METAVERSE offerings.
In the meantime, Australian businesses should be paying attention to Threads. The app has the potential to be a major player in the social media space, and it’s worth considering how to incorporate it into your marketing strategy. From an organic point of view, many advertisers won’t be able to resist the lure of simply pushing all their Tweets to Threads automatically when tools like Hootsuite gain the functionality. More advanced marketers will learn the nuances and push out custom Threads.
For paid media, there will certainly come a time in the not too distant future where Threads will be a targeting option in META ADS, and most marketers will just leave it opted in when selecting AUTOMATED PLACEMENTS. They will rely on the META AI to decide if it’s worthy of being served, just like with MARKETPLACE, STORIES, MESSAGING etc.
In other news, there’s been some speculation that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg might have an MMA fight to settle their differences. This would be a pretty entertaining spectacle, but it’s probably just wishful thinking.
Threads, the new SHORT FORM social media app from Meta, is quickly gaining popularity Worldwide. In the few days since its launch, the app has been downloaded by millions of users, including high-profile figures like Oprah Winfrey, AOC and Sarah Jessica Parker. In Australia, examples include journalists like ABC News Australia reporter Patricia Karvelas. There’s been a lot of speculation about how it will impact Twitter. Some people believe that Threads could eventually replace Twitter as the dominant SHORT FORM social media platform for Australian businesses.
What’s driving the popularity of Threads? There are a few reasons. First, Threads has a larger character count making it a more expressive platform than Twitter. Posts on Threads are limited to 500 characters, which encourages users to share more thoughtful and engaging content. Second, Threads is more focused on privacy than Twitter. Users can control who sees their posts, and they can even choose to make their posts disappear after a certain amount of time.
Another reason for Threads’ popularity is that it doesn’t have any ads yet. Meta has said that it plans to introduce ads at some point, but for now, the app is ad-free. This is a major advantage for Threads, as it means that users won’t have to worry about their feed being cluttered with ads, similar to Twitter.
So, what does all of this mean for Twitter? It’s clear that Threads is a serious threat to Twitter’s dominance in Australia. The app has already attracted a large number of users, and it’s only going to get more popular in the coming months. It appears THREADS is going to be something we will be stuck with, so choose wisely. Outlets are now reporting deleting THREADS will DEACTIVATE your INSTAGRAM account. This is going to help guarantee its user growth does not stall in the coming months.
WHY NOW?
META could have pulled the trigger on a SHORT FORM social offering at any time in the last 10 years. It’s not a massive technical feat. One must ask, why now? The truth is META has assessed the sentiment of a large portion of the Western world and figured out that MUSK’s acquisition and subsequent relaxing of censorship rules has disgruntled the left/progressives to the point where a large enough exodus from Twitter would make it worthwhile for META. They are also looking for safer options to expand revenues after the billions squandered on their more speculative METAVERSE offerings.
In the meantime, Australian businesses should be paying attention to Threads. The app has the potential to be a major player in the social media space, and it’s worth considering how to incorporate it into your marketing strategy. From an organic point of view, many advertisers won’t be able to resist the lure of simply pushing all their Tweets to Threads automatically when tools like Hootsuite gain the functionality. More advanced marketers will learn the nuances and push out custom Threads.
For paid media, there will certainly come a time in the not too distant future where Threads will be a targeting option in META ADS, and most marketers will just leave it opted in when selecting AUTOMATED PLACEMENTS. They will rely on the META AI to decide if it’s worthy of being served, just like with MARKETPLACE, STORIES, MESSAGING etc.
In other news, there’s been some speculation that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg might have an MMA fight to settle their differences. This would be a pretty entertaining spectacle, but it’s probably just wishful thinking.
