TWITTER v THREADS: A CLASH OF THE TITANS

So, two of the biggest names in tech – Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk – seem to have shelved their plans for a billionaire-to-billionaire cage fight and, instead, are taking their determination for world dominance to the place they know best – online.

The two American business giants were destined to come to actual blows earlier this year when Musk tweeted that he was “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg. Bizarre as it might sound, nothing would surprise us with these two – not even the pair fighting it out in a metal box with the world’s press looking on.

But it looks like this has been usurped by a far more interesting contest between Musk’s Twitter and Zuckerberg’s new rival social media platform, Threads, which many are predicting is the beginning of the end for Twitter.

So, what is all the fuss about?

Threads is a new social networking app owned and operated by Meta – Mark Zuckerberg’s company, which also owns Facebook and Instagram. One of the reasons it’s being dubbed the ‘Twitter killer’ is because it’s a text-based platform, whose functionality is similar to Twitter, allowing users to post up to 500 characters, including pictures, links and videos.

What’s more interesting is that it is promising to be a well moderated, “friendly” space with the aim of fostering “positive, productive conversations”.

We all know that this is something Twitter has struggled to achieve, having become known as somewhat of a hotbed of hostility – full of challenge, argument and, all too frequently, abuse.

It’s well documented that Twitter hasn’t been the happiest of places since Musk’s takeover. He got rid of key names in the senior management team; sacked about 80% of the workforce; lost a host of key advertisers leading to a 50% drop in ad revenue; has been landed with a suite of lawsuits for not paying bills or severance pay and had all manner of issues with the launch of its premium service, Blue, when scammers had a field day selling fake accounts.

Timing, as they say, is everything, so when Threads launched in a blaze of publicity on 5 July, in 100 countries and 30 languages, it was perhaps unsurprising that it received 100 million signups in its first week, making it the fastest growing app ever, surpassing the record previously set by ChatGPT.

It’s still early days for the platform, of course, and it will have its own challenges and setbacks. One of the first has been the delay of its launch in the European Union, as it waits for regulatory clarity from the European Commission over its data collection policies, which are more stringent in the EU than other parts of the world.

The big question as to whether Threads will be good for business and brand owners is difficult to answer right now but it certainly has momentum behind it. As we’ve learnt with social media more generally, early adoption can bring positive results and business owners and communications professionals should ignore it at their peril.

A quick Threads roll-call includes the most-followed woman on Instagram, Selena Gomez,  and Katy Perry, who boasts one of the highest followings on Twitter, at 107 million. Politicians, world leaders, media owners, sporting bodies and social media influencers are all joining in, while early adopting brands include McDonald’s, Nike, Netflix, Peloton – and us here at Freshwater.

Even if you’re not exactly chomping at the bit for another social media platform, it probably is a good idea to create a Threads account even if only to claim your business name before someone else does.

Setting up a Threads account is fairly easy for those already on Instagram, as businesses can sign up using their Instagram credentials, import their profile details and then follow the same users. It’s worth noting, however, that it’s not that easy to delete a profile, without also deleting your Instagram one, so it’s best to tread carefully.

Currently there are no adverts on Threads, but Meta is looking into areas like paid content in addition to direct messaging, trending topics and improved searches online.

One potential game-changer for Threads is Meta’s ambition to make it its first app to be compatible with an open social networking protocol, allowing it to become interoperable with other platforms that also support this protocol. This will enable “new types of connections that are simply not possible on most apps today…ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks”. In short, this means that those people using compatible apps can interact with people on Threads, even if they don’t have a Threads account, and vice versa, thereby facilitating the flow of information from Threads across multiple platforms.

As with all new digital platforms, businesses need to adopt a ‘test and learn’ approach, keeping a watching brief on how Threads evolves to see how effective it can be in holding the attention of its users. While it may be nice to think that 100 million people – and growing – can’t be wrong; the proof, as always with these things, will be in the analytics.

This article was written by our chief executive, Angharad Neagle, and featured in the Western Mail on 24 July 2023