Instagram’s new conversation app Threads arrived in Europe – how will it affect marketing and communications?
Conversation app Threads was launched on December 14th in Finland. Threads offers businesses a new channel for interactive communication with their customers. However, the platform’s potential as a forum for social influence and debate is still open.
In mid-December, the technology company Meta launched a direct competitor to Elon Musk’ s messaging service X (formerly Twitter) in Europe. X has seen a slight decline in users since Elon Musk bought the company. This has naturally opened the door to competition.
Threads is a platform focused on writing short text posts. The maximum length is 500 characters. Users can also add photos, links and short videos to their posts, and text posts can be combined. The platform is intended to be very similar to X. Threads was very popular immediately after its launch, but the number of active users has fluctuated.
How should businesses use the Threads app?
If you already have an Instragram account, creating a user account is easy. You can log in to Threads with Instagram credentials and when creating an account, you can choose whether you want to import your profile information from Instagram. Users can also follow all the accounts they already follow on Instagram. Meta offers the possibility to browse the platform without logging in.
As noted, Threads is a direct competitor to the messaging service X. It is intended to be a truly interactive and social channel, where conversations take place in a fast-paced and timely manner. The focus is on the topic itself and the interest in it.
Tips for businesses using Threads:
- Adapt your message to the channel: keep your message short and to the point.
- Think about what you can do in Threads that other channels can’t do.
- Engage: Threads is an extension of Instagram, so businesses should take advantage of their existing followers.
- Visuals: while Threads is a text-driven platform, including visual elements can significantly increase engagement rates and make content more approachable and interesting.
- Frequent posting rate: as a channel, Threads is fast-paced and conversational, so the posting rate needs to be kept frequent and interactive.
Threads offers companies the opportunity to engage with their stakeholders in a text-based format. The key is to experiment, be authentic, and take advantage of the platform’s features.
Paid advertising is currently not yet possible on Threads, but it will soon become clear how quickly Meta will commercialise this platform as well.
The shift in social influence and debate
It will be interesting to see what role Threads will play in the future and whether it will establish its position. It is possible that some X users have moved and are moving over to try Threads because of its novelty and difference.
The migration of users from X to Threads will depend on a number of factors, including preferences, platform features and how well the platform serves the users’ needs for communication and content sharing.
Social conversation has been searching for a place since Elon Musk changed X’s policies, and LinkedIn, for example, has not been able to fill this void. Its use and content are based on work-related content and contacts, rather than a public conversation open to all as in X.
The question is, will social influence and debate move from X to Threads? And another essential question is: which channel does the audience relevant for businesses use?
