You may have heard that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have been considering facing off in an actual cage match. But now, they’re not just flexing on each other with threats of hand-to-hand combat: They’re battling it out in the Twitter – or the alternatives to Twitter – space.
Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 and has significantly (and clumsily) changed the user experience, creating opportunity for other apps to make a run at Twitter’s position as a top social media platform. Early contenders Mastodon, Hive and Post.news gained attention initially but failed to achieve critical mass.
In recent days, two new Twitter replacements from social media industry heavy hitters have been rolling out:
- BlueSky – an app from former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey – is invite-only for now and has started letting users into the app after building a waitlist for months.
- Meta made Threads, its Twitter replacement, available in the app store on July 5, and within the first seven hours it boasted over 10 million sign-ups. Within 24 hours, it had topped 30 million, and at the end of its second day, it had over 55 million.
Of all the potential rivals, Threads may be the most likely to overtake Twitter… based on size alone. Since the app is tied to users’ Instagram accounts, it has the potential not only to entice Twitter’s 556 million users to join but also to tap its own user base, which weighs in at over 2 billion monthly active users. (For context, we’ve included current/recent data on the user bases of top social platforms and popular Twitter alternatives at the bottom of this post.)
What is Threads?
Put simply, just like the other possible “bird app” alternatives, Threads is a Twitter look-alike, creating, as NPR writes, a “Twitter-like microblogging experience.”
In its introduction of Threads, Meta describes the app this way: “a new app, built by the Instagram team, for sharing text updates and joining public conversations… a space for real-time updates and public conversations.” The Meta team says its vision for Threads is “to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” and they say they “built Threads with tools to enable positive, productive conversations.”
Key features:
- Posts are called Threads, and each can be up to 500 characters and include links, pics and videos (up to 5 minutes).
- Users can like, repost, reply to or quote a thread.
- Meta notes that its existing suite of safety and user controls also exist on Threads.
- Users’ Instagram credentials and profile info auto populate for Threads: The Instagram handle becomes the Threads handle. (Bonus: Threads’ users can auto follow everyone they already follow on Instagram.)
- For now, when Instagram users join Threads, a badge appears on their Instagram profile.
Key “limitations”:
- You currently need an active Instagram account to join.
- At the moment, once you launch Threads, you cannot delete it without also deleting your Instagram account. You can, however, deactivate Threads at any time without impacting your Instagram account.
- Currently, the app is missing some key features of both Instagram and Twitter, like hashtags, direct messaging, support for GIFs, alt text for images and a following feed. (Currently, there’s just a home feed.) In addition, there isn’t yet a desktop version of Threads.
- Critics have raised data privacy concerns.
It’s also interesting to note that, as The New York Times reports, “Instagram’s goal is to ultimately have Threads work across multiple apps in what it calls the Fediverse, which is shorthand for a federated universe of services that share communication protocols. … What it means, essentially, is that Instagram wants to make it easier for Threads to operate seamlessly with other platforms, which could appeal to creators and influencers so they do not have to start from scratch on each app. If a creator builds up a sizable number of followers on Threads, for instance, they could ostensibly take those followers with them to other platforms that are built on the same technology.”
What should brands do?
Brands are already joining Threads, but it’s unclear what advertising infrastructure may end up being added (though Meta clearly has the capability and experience to do so). Therefore, as is often the case with new platforms, organic content aligned with content marketing goals is the place to start.
Industry thought leader Future Social (Jack Appleby) predicts Threads will be successful. Appleby says, “Every brand should get on Threads ASAP. And I’m not just talking about grabbing your brand’s name—you should start posting immediately.” In fact, he’s putting nails in the coffins of the other contenders. He says, “RIP. None of the Twitter alternatives had a shot before Threads, and they definitely don’t have a shot now… Go ahead and still grab your brand’s name on every new social network, but don’t spend your time making any content for them. Stick to the big established ones + Threads.”
Media Logic’s Social Content Team is on the Threads app and has been doing testing and research, including vetting early guidance, like that from Future Social. Based on the current opportunity (and its potential), here are some quick-start recommendations:
- We agree with Future Social: Yes, brands should join. For those with existing Instagram accounts, it takes just a few seconds, and as noted above, brands can take their Instagram followers with them. (Brands not already on Instagram may find getting established – first on Instagram, then on Threads – a hurdle. It’s fine for these brands to “wait and see” vs. Investing right away in two new platforms.)
- Use existing, successful content from other platforms (like, let’s say, Twitter) to get publishing underway. That said, what works on other platforms may not work on Threads, since Threads’ following mirrors the Instagram audience *not* the audience of the platforms where that content originated. As always, be strategic and share content that serves the larger strategy.
- It’s too early for insights on the algorithm, but it’s never too soon to experiment with content. Test text-only Threads, plus Threads with photos and video.
- We think engagement will matter on Threads, just like it does elsewhere, so brands should like and comment on other accounts’ content and tag other users in their own posts.
We will continue to monitor the evolution of this emerging social media platform – as well as BlueSky (our access is pending) – and update clients as we know more.
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Current data on social platform size
As you can see from Statista’s chart of the “most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2023, ranked by number of monthly active users,” Twitter is small in comparison to other established platforms.
When it comes to the most talked-about Twitter alternatives, data shows that these platforms remain relatively small:
- Mastodon (launched 2016) –10 million registered users as of March 2023
- Hive Social (launched 2019) – 1.5 million users as of November 2022
- Post.news (launched 2022) – an estimated 946K daily users as of March 2023