Quoted in Reuters story on Threads

Meta with its Instagram service is going after Twitter with its new text-based social media platform Threads to become the new digital town square for text-based conversations, live commentary, and breaking news. I shared some perspectives with Reuters that they featured in a story today.

Threads vs Twitter

The timing of Meta’s release of Threads could not have been better as Twitter is at its most vulnerable stage. With its bare-bones staff, Twitter is apparently barely able to keep the service running let alone manage increasing brand safety concerns with its reduced investment in content moderation.

There is a rather large graveyard filled with failed social media platforms. However, Threads, building upon the Instagram platform with its massive user base, is at the very least going to get a serious look by many who have gotten increasingly frustrated with Twitter’s increasing toxicity and overall turbulence of late since its takeover by Elon Musk.

That Twitter is the platform that is specifically targeted by Threads is something Mark Zuckerberg is making abundantly clear. He hopes that Threads by Instagram will be the first billion-user conversation platform and suggests that Twitter had its shot and basically blew it.

Why Meta May Succeed with Threads by Instagram

Meta has proven that they can successfully integrate killer features of emerging platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok such as in the case of Instagram’s Stories or Reels formats. Moreover, Meta has the financial muscles to be sufficiently patient to give Threads a chance beyond the honeymoon phase of a launch. Over time, Meta can tweak and improve the Threads platform as it learns from the behaviors of the early adopters.

Threads is off to an impressive start with 10 million users in only the first 7 hours. That Threads can build some initial momentum is not so surprising given that it is rather friction-less to sign up via your existing Instagram profile. Thereby, you can simply use the same user handle and login while leveraging the following you have already built on Instagram. You can simply state that you wish to follow everyone you already follow on Instagram and if they are not yet on Threads, you will start following them the moment they do sign up.

5 Reasons Advertisers will go for Threads

Advertisers are likely to monitor the emergence of Threads with great interest for at least five reasons:

1. Instagram is a proven platform and is the service from which Threads is launched.
2. Advertising rates can be attractive initially. Historically, advertising rates on emerging platforms can be had at bargain prices until mainstream marketers realize the true value of a new platform and join the fray.
3. Opportunity to connect with early adopters. By being an early advertiser on a platform, brands have an opportunity to establish themselves and connect in more genuine ways with early adopters before the platform becomes overly commercialized. Based on my observations day 1, many of these early adopters are also quite influential people with large communities.
4. Relevancy for Gen Z’ers. Being early on the platform could also be a way for a brand to demonstrate its overall relevancy with younger demographics such as Generation Z as the young tend to be the first to give new platforms a chance.
5. Brand risks on Twitter. When it comes to brand risk, brands would typically look at a new platform with some trepidation. However, given the increasing concerns about brand safety over on Twitter with its more bare-bones content moderation standards, Threads could be seen as a safer option already from the get go.

5 Challenges for Threads by Instagram

For Threads to become a true public square of conversations, they will clearly face some significant challenges and success is far from guaranteed. In the following, I list some of the key challenges Threads will need to deal with:

1. Getting users to go public. One key will be for the platform to motivate a large number of users to opt for the public vs private option when joining Threads. Otherwise, it simply won’t become the “public square”. Clearly, there could be value in more closed communities and amongst circles of friends but such needs are likely already met by existing services.
2. Establishing a climate for civil discourse Another challenge will be for Threads to foster a climate and a platform for civil discourse about topics people would like to discuss while at the same time, not going overboard with content moderation.
3. Alleviating privacy concerns. Will Threads be the platform where people feel that they can truly open up and share their thinking or will they hold back given that Meta has a history of exploiting what they know about you?
4. Complying with anti-trust legislation. For me, it was quite noticeable that something was during missing day 1 of Threads. Simply put, where were all my Swedish friends and connections many of whom typically would show up early on new platforms? Then I learned that Meta chose to wait with the launch in all of EU, presumably as they want to be in compliance with the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act and it is clear that EU’s increasingly aggressive stance on Big Tech has resulted in some hesitation. Personally, I hope that they figure it out so I can connect with my European friends soon!
5. Ensuring interoperability with other networks. Some of the emerging and decentralized Twitter alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky are likely to still stay around for the foreseeable future given that they seem to have struck a chord with many former Twitter enthusiasts. The question is if Threads can win out with its ease of use and frictionless onboarding or at the very least succeed by ensuring that the network complies with some interoperability standards. At least, Threads is hinting at this as an objective as they aim to make future versions of Threads compatible with the so-called fediverse via which you can follow and interact with people across platforms even specifically mentioning Mastodon by name.

Social Media Coming Full Circle with Threads by Instagram

Threads, by going for text as the primary media format, seems to be an example of social media coming full circle from its origins of text-based updates. Then, when Facebook allowed for images to be shared, they were seen as illustrations of an accompanying text whereas Instagram was more image-centric with a text caption as an add-on. Later, with video taking off on all platforms and social audio becoming a thing, text started taking a back seat on social media.

The written word is still powerful, though, as evidenced by the growth of email newsletters and messaging platforms. Certainly, Gen Z’ers are no strangers to texting albeit often behind closed doors inside private chat groups with their friends and communities on Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, etc. Threads is apparently not going for private messaging and dms are not even possible, at least not in the first iteration of the service.

Why I am on Threads Day 1

I get it that not everyone would be excited about the launch of yet another social media platform and I respect those who feel that the world needs less, not more social media… On the other hand, others get excited by the emergence of promising new platforms and are eager to jump on board and try them out. I belong to the latter category, at least some of the time.

My goal with experimenting with new social media platforms is not necessarily to find ways to add more social media to my life but rather to find out if a new alternative can be a better alternative than and reduce the need for some existing platforms. I will withhold my judgment of the platform as it is still Day 1.

Still, the rollout too 100+ countries seems to be running well so far and it has been enjoyable to interact with many familiar faces during this first day of the platform. It is as my friend Mitch Jackson usually tells my students when he visits my Chapman University classes “Platforms come and go but relationships can last a lifetime.”

In conclusion, hope to connect with you over on Threads, you can find me at https://www.threads.net/@niklasmyhr