Threads Steps Into the Ring With Twitter
Ding! Ding! It’s Round 1 in the latest social media platform heavyweight title fight as ‘Threads’, Meta’s new social networking app enters the ring to take on the reigning champ Twitter.
Beyond the spectacle of two tech billionaires vying for dominance, both metaphorically and literally (with their planned real-life fight), Meta's new app has made an impressive entrance to the ring.
For Instagram users, the onboarding process is seamless and swift. The user interface is sleek, minimalist, and familiar, drawing upon some of Instagram's design DNA. It operates at lightning speed and maintains a focused approach, evoking memories of Twitter from a decade ago. While it isn't an exact replica of Twitter's reading and posting experience, it bears an uncanny resemblance.
Meta claims to have designed Threads "with tools to foster positive and constructive conversations." This position is clearly trying to speak to those users who have grown weary of the rampant toxicity found on Twitter, despite the latter's continued struggle with such issues. The burning question remains: Will "Creators and Communities" migrate to this new platform and stick around for the long haul? Elon Musk's meddling, including changes in moderation rules, reinstating Trump's account, charging for verified badges, and his overall visibility (through aggressively promoting his tweets), might be frustrating for some users. However, will it be enough to entice a significant influx of users and make an impact on Twitter's user base and Average Monthly Users (AUMs)?
Achieving feature parity with Twitter will undoubtedly take time for Threads, and paradoxically, this might work in its favor. The stripped-down experience has, based on this author's initial research, received a positive response thus far. Users are cautiously exploring and gauging the platform's potential. At the very least, there's a rush to establish visibility on the platform in these early days.
However, the platform currently struggles in its ability to find and discover content, one of Twitter’s best (if algorithmically influenced) features. Absent are hashtags and a search feature that allows users to seek out specific text or phrases. It's not just that fewer people are posting content; rather, the search function only reveals user profiles. There is currently no way to search for news, updates, or, in this user's case, football transfer stories. For now, the platform is exclusively available as an app (similar to Instagram), which may deter some users.
In a significant shift for Meta, they are working towards interoperability by incorporating the ActivityPub protocol—the open social networking protocol established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This means that Threads can interact with platforms that also support the ActivityPub protocol, such as Mastodon and WordPress.
Threads is just the most recent contender to challenge Twitter, following in the footsteps of Bluesky and Donald Trump's Truth Social. Twitter managed to outlast both of those upstarts. However, with Meta's substantial existing Instagram user base (approximately 1.2 billion active users), they may finally land a meaningful blow on the reigning champion.
Is there a killer feature yet? No not yet. But a stripped down experience (or at least a homage to Twitter’s past) and what feels like a fresh start may be enough for the platform to build traction. To end with one final boxing metaphor, the first round judges' scorecards are in… Zuckerberg with a 10 to Musk's 6. It’s a solid start, catching the champion off guard, but there's 11 rounds to go, and the champion won't be going down without a fight.
— Hot take by Kieron Leppard, Executive Creative Director at Huge.
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Huge is a creative consultancy powered by human and AI collaboration. We partner with the world’s most ambitious brands to Make Huge Moves, which are creative solutions that deliver powerful outcomes. Huge helps clients unlock meaningful growth in areas ranging from AI business consulting and organizational strategy, brand and customer experience, technology advisory and strategy, to high-value audience analysis and product innovation. Founded in 1999 in Brooklyn, NY, Huge has more than 1,200 employees working across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The consultancy is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. For more information about Huge, visit www.hugeinc.com.
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