What Is Meta Threads? - Everything You Need to Know

Threads is a new social media platform designed by Meta and launched officially on 5th July 2023.

This platform is focused on text-based conversations instead of image-centric platforms.

But can it compete with one of the biggest platforms Twitter ( ‘X’) which is already established on the Internet? Only time will tell.

What is Meta Threads ?

Threads is a platform Meta has launched to compete with Twitter (‘X’).

This text-based app is created by Instagram, which lets users send and receive updates, have conversations, and look at the content published by others.

Users can download threads on their Android or IOS devices and get access via Instagram login.

Who uses Meta Threads ?

Meta threads have nearly 100 Million users who use the app monthly.

According to Mark Zuckerburg within 48 hours Threads gained 70 million users instantly due to its connectivity with Instagram.

It is one of the largest growing platforms in the world which gained 1 million users in 1hr.

According to a recent announcement, Threads have reached 200 million active users by August 2024.

The top 10 accounts on Threads as of August 2024, are as follows

Sr. no.	Meta Threads Account	Meta Threads Follower
1	Neymar	17.7 M
2	Selena Gomez	16.6 M
3	Kylie Jenner	14.6 M
4	Kim Kardashian	13.2 M
5	Jennifer Lopez	11 M
6	Shakira	9.6 M
7	Mr beast	9.2 M
8	Will Smith	9.1 M
9	Chloe Kardashian	8.9 M
10	Chris Hemsworth	7.9 M

But threads aren’t just for celebrities; even brands like Spotify, Starbucks, and Netflix are using the app for marketing campaigns and promotional activities.

Features of Meta Threads

Threads is a platform designed for posting short-form content like microblogging.

Despite its similarity with Twitter (X), it has some unique features that have attracted millions of users to date:

Text posts up to 500 characters (in contrast, X/Twitter allows up to 280 characters)
Video length up to 5 minutes
Option to follow the same accounts you follow on Instagram
A feed that includes content from your followed accounts and recommended content as well
Algorithmically driven instead of showing the newest content first
Ability to “mute” accounts rather than unfollowing, blocking, or restricting them
Privacy settings to control who mentions you in a post
Potential to choose who can reply to your posts
Helps to minimize screen time, as a setting alert pops up if you’re browsing for a long time.

Pros of Instagram Threads

Getting Instant Following

The main feature of threads is you automatically start to follow the accounts that you already follow on Instagram.

Henninger notes, “Brands with large followings on Instagram instantly have larger followings on Threads, as most users sign up and select to follow all accounts that they were following on Instagram.”

This becomes a huge advantage for heavily engaged brands to build their customer relationship on Threads as well.

Boost In Views And Engagement

When a new platform arrives, every brand should take advantage to increase views and engagement before some changes to its features are made.

Boosting your engagement on threads now will help you in the future, and it doesn’t take much time for an app to shift algorithms.

No need for Visual Content

Threads is a text-focused platform, so you can easily keep your audiences engaged with easy conversations without prioritizing on posting pictures or videos.

So content creation on Threads is currently less time-consuming, because it’s focused upon short content creation, instead of long or lengthy videos.

In fact monthly active users (MAUs) on Threads 2024 is 175 million.

Real time connections

Meta threads fosters immediate interactions and community building.

Users can respond quickly to comments, join a real time conversation on a buzzworthy topic and build new connections.

Testing Ground for Brand Voice

As Threads is focused on the textual nature of content, brands can experiment with a unique style and tone for their profile.

Eventually it will help the brand to resonate with their audience with much presence of visual images or videos.

Potential of Niche Customers

Just like Twitter (X), Threads can also become a hub for specific interest groups.

Brands can participate in relevant conversation, thus building a loyal fanbase for themselves.

This can leverage community engagement.

Cons of Threads

Lack of Account Deletion Control

Currently, Threads doesn’t allow its users to delete their accounts independently.

If some user tries to do so, he/she needs to delete their linked Instagram account as well.

Thus limiting user’s control and flexibility on their account.

Additional Platform to Handle

Threads have become a major challenge for content creators, brands, and social media platforms to create content for an additional platform.

It is because you can’t just recycle your Instagram content on threads and use it.

After all, your followers are likely to follow your page on both platforms and won’t be interested in seeing repetitive content.

Hence it requires additional bandwidth and creativity while creating content for this platform as well.

Absence of Reporting and Scheduling Features

Threads doesn’t provide reporting and scheduling features yet, which becomes difficult for big brands who need to upload multiple posts a day.

Also, it limits the engagement and performance metrics for your profile.

Low Engagement Rates

Threads is similar to Twitter and it is mostly likely to have a low engagement rate in the future.

This is because in text-based social platforms, as soon as the trend or buzz fades away, the engagement of the brand profile also starts to diminish.

No hashtags or direct messages

Unlike Twitter, Threads doesn’t have that capability where users can see trending topics or hashtags on their feeds.

Therefore, Twitter still holds its place intact for generating aggregate information and commentary on buzzworthy topics.

Additionally, Threads doesn’t have the feature of direct messaging (DM) which becomes a barrier for brands to resolve customer service concerns.

Meta Threads V/S Instagram

Meta threads are just a small portion of Instagram and are developed by the same team, hence, it’s accessible to only Instagram users.

Though Threads look like a clone version of Twitter (X), in reality, they are marketed as a text version of Instagram. It is designed in a way to provide Instagram users with new ways of interacting.

But there is more to both apps rather than just text and image interfaces.

Meta Threads V/S Facebook

Facebook is one of the OGs of social media platforms and continues to dominate on the Internet.

But Threads and Facebook being from the same parent corporation don’t hold any connections as such.

Threads have very limited features for brands to launch marketing and promotional campaigns. In contrast, Facebook boasts its commercial capabilities.

Hence Meta hasn’t monetized Threads yet and is looking for more tractions to make it into a business platform.

Also, there is a controversial aspect that Meta is promoting this Threads platform on Facebook.

To expand Threads, Meta is posting users’ Threads content on Facebook, without providing an option to opt-out, and many users are finding it problematic and theft of their privacy.

How can brands use Meta Threads ?

Generally, a new social media platform has new things to learn.

However, Threads is intended to be a replica of Twitter (X), and a lot of features have been tried and tested.

Also as Threads is connected to Instagram, all users get this advantage to follow the same accounts, which they did on Instagram, which in turn is beneficial for the brands to get an in-built engagement with the same audience.

Also, this helps brands to experiment with new strategies on a new platform.

Let’s look at a few objectives that can help you reach your brand goals on Meta Threads.

Attractive Polls and Questions

The format of short texts on Threads pushes brands to use polls and attractive questions.

This can help generate quick responses and feedback from the audience driving engagement.

For example, A brand can use polls to ask their customers about their feedback on a product or service or give them fun quizzes or riddles to solve.
Highlights your Products

Threads can become a platform for brands to give a message about a new launch of a product, promote existing products, or just ask the audience what they would like to see next!

Much like Instagram, Threads too is heading towards becoming an inspirational platform.

For example, brands like Netflix, try to highlight and promote their shows and movies through this platform.

Also, it aids in building excitement among its audiences for upcoming shows, thereby drawing their attention to them, if they have missed something.
Test new ideas

If you are planning to launch new products and experiment with some features, then Threads can be a great platform to get user input.

As Threads users are also Instagram users, they can freely share their opinions about what they like and what they dislike.

Provide the link to the landing page when you post a picture or a video with your text and let the comments roll in.
Share Announcements

Share some exciting offers and announcements, like new product launches, giveaway contests, new blog posts, etc. to keep your audience hooked to your brand.

Also create some exclusive content, which the audience can’t get access to on other platforms which can help in increasing your followers for this platform.
Repurpose your content

Sharing the same content on all platforms doesn’t work all the time.

But sometimes you can use cross-posting and repurposing which can save your time and efforts for content creation.

This fosters brand consistency and staying active on all platforms.

That’s a wrap

Meta Threads has emerged as a compelling platform for social interaction for Instagram users. Its simplicity and direct approach have attracted a significant amount of Instagram users to join this platform. It’s a unique blend of text and visual format for posting content. But time will tell how it can distinguish itself from Twitter, and capture a larger audience base of its own.