A Thread on Threads

With the recent self-inflicted Twitter debacle where users were limited to viewing 300, then 600 tweets - which severely limited scrolling capability, the launch of Meta-operated Threads seems like a wonderful coincidence that fell neatly into Mr Zuckerberg's lap.

Firstly, it looks a bit like Twitter, smells a bit like Twitter, but this ain't no Elon Musk plaything. The initial take up of 100 million users in the first week alone has set it apart as the fastest growing social media platform in history - however as history has also taught us there can be a quick retreat when a platforms seems to be too similar or perform the same functions as others we're traditionally used to (see Google Spaces).

Simplicity.

Sign up is easy enough - if you have an Instagram account...

Herein lies the biggest issue, it's linked to Instagram, which on the face of it means a quicker sign up, replicate profile option and your off to the races. But it's when deleting your Threads profile you realise, you're deleting your Instagram profile as well - apparently this is a fault to be fixed. But the good folks at Meta must have seen abandonment rates at other platforms and considered ingenious ways of keeping people on Threads... or is this us just being pessimistic?

Meta Backed

Threads hasn't taken a group of bitter old Twitter engineers and brought them onboard, it's been developed by a Meta team, and with a Meta team comes the power of WhatsApp, Instagram and of course Facebook - whilst this doesn't guarantee success, it does mean significant investment will have gone into development, marketing and a strategy to make on Twitter.

Pay as you Play

There's no doubt monetising these platforms is the ultimate goal. Musk has his $8 blue tick, Threads will no doubt harness the power of advertising spend it has already developed on other platforms. This is where our B2C clients will have the opportunity to submit ads to a exact criteria a-la Facebook.

It's New

Which isn't such a great thing. People LOVE familiarity and Threads, whilst simple in design has subtle differences that a Twitter-friendly user may find difficult to navigate. For example looking at someones profile picture - on occasion you can't see who has followed you or identify them from their handle, so you'd have a quick look at their pic, not on threads, you'll need a magnifying glass.