So yesterday I came across a “thread” on a coming social media platform from Meta – Threads. So like any curious marketer and human, I signed up and waited patiently for it to launch and the app to be downloaded on my phone.

I was expecting it to come out sometime today, but surprise! It hit about 9pm ET last night. As part of Meta and tied to Instagram it allowed Instagram followers to be automatically added when the user set up an account. At first I thought this was a good idea and did it. But now I’m wondering if it would’ve been better to start with a clean slate. Anyway, no going back now. Threads was live!

How will you use Threads social media

I was never an avid Twitter participant. More casually and used as part of my automated aggregate postings. I did however meet my forever wife via Twitter, but that’s another long and beautiful story. 🙂 I think at this point I’m going to keep Threads for more personal and random thoughts that are generated by me, not my automated system. I’m sure my marketing stuff will seep in as it’s part of me, but for the most part I think I’ll keep it human and personal.

While it’s a direct competitor to Twitter focusing on real-time updates and threads (conversations). Meta envisions this to be compatible with an open social networking protocol. It seems that timing was right and people were ready for it as there were over 5 million sign-ups within the first 4 hours of launch. Pretty impressive numbers!

From a marketing standpoint it’ll be interesting to see where it goes and how people use it. And also, how to stand out amidst the avalanche of Threads. Hopefully for good and not hateful garbage. As Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) wrote on Threads last night, “Practical optimism is the vibe – I am hopeful for this opportunity with this platform.” He also added, “… how about we try to all collectively be more civil, kind, and warm to each other and actually understand that many grew up in different frameworks and circumstances which leads to people having different views. And maybe we can be compassionate and sympathetics and maybe even the bigger person as we interact with each other here.” Wise words.

It was exhilarating seeing folks posting and testing this new thing out.

Key Threads (points) to note

• Character limit seems to be 500 nearly doubling what Twitter offers (280 characters).
• Currently no plans to allow people to limit the audience of their posts to only people they follow.
• Everyone was being kind. Wow, what a refreshing feeling. Like kids in a candy store with a new toy (or tool).
• Pics and gifs can be added, but this seems more focused on text and dialog which is different than Instagrams approach.
• No hashtags, or at least that’s not a thing quite yet.
• Not available in all regions globally (yet, anyway)

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Threads and if, and how, you see yourself using it. It’s new and we can all learn from each other.

Happy Threading!