Canadian Ad Insider

First thoughts/ impressions?

So, my first thoughts and impressions on the Threads release.  It looks exactly like Twitter. I think that's kind of the point, Meta has had this reputation, especially in recent years of being a bit agile copycat, if you look at Reells, it was a replica of the Tik Tok face when took up was getting a lot of steam and it was a successful attempt to retain younger users, Look at the launch of Instagram stories, that was kind of made fun of at the beginning, as a way to compete with Snapchat stories, meta this year even released for purchase verified, check marks after Twitter. Did it first? What we're really seeing in action is that Silicon Valley, the ethos of competition, and the Threads release were folded into this ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to show Twitter, just how easily this product that they had spent that Elon Musk had spent billions of dollars acquiring was easily replicated.  It's a product that was built, not because it needs to be built because consumers were asking for it to really wanted it. The question for us becomes do we need another Twitter when we already have Twitter? Threads claims that it wants to be a friendlier place for users, but time really will tell. If users will make it a friendly environment and what regulations or community guidelines, will make a conducive thought as a new product. 

As a new product, what did you think of their rollout?

The rollout of Threads has been the most dramatic tech launched potentially ever. It did not lack any excitement and it did a really good job at capitalizing on that captive audience on social media that was there already. When we talk about competition and action, the launch completely embodies that competitive spirit Then overnight Musk limits the scroll back of Twitter Zuckerberg responds by launching an entirely new competitor app that gives you users infinite scroll back immediately. The launch is concurrent with this dramatic and very public feud, that's rolling out on social media between these two tech titans two who represent this opposing view of what the effect could be and who might literally fight it out at the Coliseum. I'm really left wondering what streaming service will get exclusive rights to that event. When, and if it does happen, 

Will it be here in 6 months?

Threads is backed by Meta scale. It's almost too big to fail in the short term.  Users will ultimately decide based on how they want to use the platform and what they're going to use it for.  I've said this a lot but the Thread seems to want to be a friendly environment. That's more conducive to me updates and feel-good content from people that we know, But that's not always what users want. People don't always want to be recognized. Well, we're seeing, as the younger generation turn away from that and want some more anonymity. And it seems a little bit counter to help, people are wanting to use social channels these days using it more as news ads, and entertainment. And as a shopping medium. There's also the question of book creators and everyday people make enough content that users want to consume on the platform. Will it be a community platform or will these like new kind of threadfluencers roll out on the platform? That people want to follow. And will the investment in this platform successful? Come at the cost of abandoning an existing one. I don't have a crystal ball but we do know that it engaged and scalable communities needed if it's going to be successful in the long term. There are plenty of products, you know? We Have enough history now to look at that have been venerated as the next big thing that's seen like this really impressive and expedient adoption, only to be sloughed aside later on, and not retain that engagement. Look at apps like Clubhouse, who's huge journey during pandemic, Periscope, BeReal, Meerkat. Google buys, Yik Yak. They all raised thousands and venture capital had millions of potentially millions. I don't know this exact subscriber numbers. But were all met with this huge way of enthusiasm that ultimately wasn't sustained because they didn't serve a continued purpose of people's lives. On Thread specifically, there does seem to be a bit of sign-up frenzy and users who sign up to see what the platform is all about, but are not actively engaged in it. I think it was Pathmatics or Sensor Tower that came out with points at the time span of the platform was down 60 percent from launch day on July 6th and it's still 60 percent lower than the time spent on Twitter. Newness, the fact that it is so new and there's not that much user-generated content on it yet maybe contributing to that.  And the fact that, you know, there's just not enough content for people to consume to get those high engagement numbers. People might be signing up but at least for now they're all posting and we posting at the same frequency. 

Will Threads go the distance, will it be here in 5 years?

Yes, if and only, if they retain engaged users and the right ad opportunities are developed, long-term, they need to appeal to consumers and advertisers alike to see the course, and not just become this graveyard of duplicate Instagram handles. There are no paid opportunities now, I think that's a question of when not, if. Meta says that they're focused on building a community. Right now, engagement will be here with that and they'll need, you know, that active community or to kill to advertisers in the long term. There's also the possibility that they might be around in five years, but it might look very different as a platform because of it's hard to pivot to keep users engaged.  The one thing I think that will help them stay the course in long term and retain a user base, is the fact that you're the Threads accounts are linked directly to Instagram accounts. Instagram users are not going anywhere. Engagement is really high on that platform and right now, the only way to deactivate Threads is to also deactivate your Instagram account.  So it's really a Meta's best we interest to keep those users on Threads engaged. 

What is the opportunity for brands?

The opportunity is to establish your presence on an emerging platform. Being present early sometimes has a first movers advantage, where you have a captive audience that doesn't have a lot of competition. You can cultivate a relationship early on with them and build that brand connection especially here on Threads for a more conversational media. And because of its conversational nature. Threads really has the potential to become a good loyalty and retention tool. It could also become a good avenue for customer feedback and product development. Its consumers are actively going to engage with brands and they can contribute to the product occasionally. We've seen that model happen. A lot on social media already with products like Glossier. And I can see that being taken to an even bigger level with Threads. 

Are you impressed by the adoption rate?

Yes, the sheer scale is impressive, especially when you consider how long, it's taken other major tech companies to reach one million users, which is the benchmark that a lot of people are. using to show the scale of this platform but when you zoom out it's less impressive and it's not an apples-to-apples comparison to other tech companies. These are not net new users for Meta, they're existing Instagram users. Out of globally, 2.35 billion, Instagram users, 100 million signed up for Threads in a week. That's just under a quarter of the user base and which is still good. But the other thing to consider is that these are signups and not necessarily people who are actively engaged in the platform which will translate into monthly active users. That's really the number, the monthly active users number the engagement on the platform that will show us sustained growth and, and sustained success. 

Did you sign up - but are you posting? Are you engaging?

I didn't sign up. I feel like you have to be the first as a media practitioner. You need to be proactive and to offer your clients' a point of view on how to proceed with the platform before they reach out. So I did sign up now. I can't get out. I don't want to deactivate Instagram. So I've got this kind of dormant Threads account on my part of the lack of engagement on my part is, I don't know what to do with it. I'm Active on other mediums on LinkedIn. I use Instagram to follow things that are more aesthetically driven, and I don't know the place that Threads highs from a content perspective in my life yet and I'm not entirely interested in going back to these 2008 style, status updates of what everyone that I know is up to right now. There are a lot of people, I see that are very active on Instagram but are not active on Threads in the same way. Being a good visual content creator, being funny in a video doesn't necessarily translate into compelling written content on Threads that I'm not the edge of my seat wanting to scroll more for. We haven't started to figure out what click on the platform yet from a content standpoint that might come. And then we'll need people who are willing to experience and see where that goes.

That's all for me.