In this post, we dive into the exciting, fast changing realm of social media marketing and shed light on the much-anticipated new platform: Threads by Meta. We reached out to experienced social media marketers, eagerly seeking their first impressions, pros, and cons of this new anti Elon tool.
Threads by Meta, the brainchild of the tech giant formerly known as Facebook, has recently made waves in the industry. Designed to empower businesses and advertisers with enhanced engagement capabilities, Threads claims to offer a fresh approach to navigating the ever-expanding social media sphere.
To provide you with an unbiased and comprehensive review after the first few days to Threads launch, we reached out to a diverse group of social media marketers from various agencies. These professionals are on the front lines, crafting campaigns and results for their clients. We wanted to capture their initial experiences with Threads, from the moment they logged in to the platform, to their exploration of its features, and their assessment of its potential for success.
Here is what they said:
Carrie Rose, CEO of Rise at Seven
First impression on threads is that it is a more wholesome app, encouraging “socialising” more than any other social app out there. It’s built for 2 way conversation, or even 100 way conversations rather than 1 way content consumption which TikTok, Instagram, or even YouTube primarily embody.
Keep an eye on how people use threads, and threads will evolve with user interaction.
Rachael Thompson, Social Media and Content Co-ordinator at M.A.D Communications
First impressions
This is going to be big! Even though it’s a recycled formula, it somehow feels fresh and exciting! And the memes we’ve seen so far are top tier 😆
Pros and cons?
Pros – simple, easy to use. It’s a great opportunity for brands who may have struggled to tap into quick, authentic content on their existing platforms, or for smaller, newer brands to really connect with their audiences, get involved in the conversation and share the excitement of something new.
Cons – there’s just one feed at the moment, and no way to switch between content from who you follow and generic accounts, but that will come in time. For now though, it’s a good chance to explore some new content!
Ollie, Copywriting and content at Digital Media Team
What is your first impression on threads?
I love it so far! Most of the feed is packed full of Twitter vs Threads memes at the moment, but I know those will slowly start to leave once more people join the platform. Love how quickly it was to move everything onto the platform, too (e.g. current Instagram followers and all our profile info).
Any pros and cons you can see so far?
Pros – It’s very easy to navigate and super quick to share things from Threads onto our Instagram story. Once I post onto Threads, it can be onto the dmt Instagram story within seconds. Love the speedyness!
Cons – No sign of hashtags as of yet. They’re a major part of every other social platform, so it’ll be interesting to see how they come into play on Threads. It’ll also be interesting to see what they do with the ‘For You Page’, as I’m currently seeing posts from brands and influencers I’ve never interacted with before.
Nikita Dare, Creative Director of Sol Productions
First impressions?
Threads has a clean and sleek design, and the setup process was a breeze and didn’t take more than a few seconds. Importing our Instagram followers was a great feature as it allowed us to reconnect with our community and instantly feel familiar with the app. However, I must admit that I’m finding the abundance of text-based posts overwhelming. As a visual person, I prefer pictures/videos over text, so it’s a bit challenging for me to stay on the app for more than 10 minutes (which might not be a bad thing).
Pros and cons so far:
The rapid newsfeed on Threads left me a tad overwhelmed. It’s like everyone and their dog are rushing to make their mark and come up with the wittiest posts for maximum visibility. It would be great if Threads introduced a time-ordered feed that shows content from people I follow. I sometimes feel like I’m losing them amidst the accounts the algorithm thinks I might want to connect with.
Instagram Threads has taken the internet by storm, and it’s just been a day! It seems pretty bug-free for now, but it’s a work in progress. You can pretty much explore the whole app in just 15 minutes. I’m expecting Meta to drop a bunch of cool features soon to keep people engaged, but, It’s only a matter of time until we see ads. Love it or hate it, they’ll likely pop up sooner or later.
All in all, it’s a promising start for Threads, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to features. It’s like an extension of Instagram trying to take on Twitter, even if it’s facing its fair share of criticism.
Cait Jones Head of Content at Southpaw Agency
What’s you’re first impression?
We love Threads far! Following all the ongoing controversy with Elon Musk we’ve been keeping a close eye on which app will take the crown as “the new Twitter”. The fact that users can sign up to this new platform with their existing Instagram user names means we’re expecting to see people signing up to Threads in droves.
Pros
Easy to use and a familiar interface for those who are looking to make the switch from Twitter. We also love the simple sharing functionality from Threads over to Instagram Stories. No more screenshots of your Notes app! Threads hasn’t been monetised yet, but once it’s built up an audience it will be interesting to see how easily brands can add Threads placements into their paid social strategy using Meta’s existing Ads Manager infrastructure.
Cons
Unsurprisingly for Meta, data privacy concerns have halted the app rolling out in the EU for now – let’s see how Zuckerberg addresses this inbetween practising for his cage fight with Musk… We’d also love to see Threads experiment with a separate feed for those you follow alongside a TikTok style ‘For You’ suggested feed.
Friel Marketing
Our first impression was that, obviously, it’s a LOT like Twitter, but it feels a lot more sleek and organised.
Pros would be that you can communicate with people easily and it’s nice to be consistent with other platforms we already use so often, being able to take your audience from Instagram and input it straight into Threads is a great feature so you don’t have to start from square 1 on an entirely new platform.
Cons would be just the lack of knowledge about the platform so far and not knowing how the analytics will help businesses, but also might not call that a con as we just need to spend more time on it and do some research!
Courtney Alves from CNS Media
I think it’s a clever platforms where people can let loose, no strings attached 😉
A pro is that it’s highly engaging, gathering real thoughts. A con is that there could be too much information to consume.
Threads Vs Twitter – 5 main differences
- Format and Content: Twitter is primarily known for its short-form content, limiting users to 280 characters per tweet. It encourages quick communication, making it ideal for sharing brief thoughts, news updates, or engaging in real-time conversations. Threads by Meta focuses on long-form content. It allows you to create and share threaded posts, enabling more in-depth discussions and storytelling within a single thread.
- Engagement and Interactions: Twitter is designed for real-time engagement, with features like retweets, replies, and likes that promote conversation and amplification of content. Threads by Meta, however, seems to place a greater emphasis on meaningful and focused discussions within a specific thread. Will users be using it for this purpose though? Time will tell!
- User Base and Target Audience: Twitter has a massive user base consisting of individuals, celebrities, businesses, and organisations from various industries. It serves as a platform for sharing news, opinions, and general updates. Threads by Meta, being a newer platform, may have a more targeted user base, particularly among marketers and businesses seeking to create more comprehensive and detailed content.
- Integration with Other Platforms: Twitter has established itself as a widely integrated platform, enabling users to share tweets across different websites, apps, and social media platforms. It has a robust API that allows third-party developers to build applications that enhance the Twitter experience. Threads by Meta, being a newer platform, may have limited integrations initially, but could expand in the future.
- Company Focus and Priorities: Twitter’s primary focus is on real-time updates and fostering public conversations. It emphasises the importance of brevity and immediacy. Threads by Meta may prioritise different aspects such as community building. Ultimately it is the users that end up shaping how the platform is used.
Are you thinking about offering Threads management at your marekting agency? We would love to hear from you! [email protected] . If you are a threads marketing agency we want to know how you are planning your threads marketing strategy! Get in touch and share with Women in Agencies.