Threads vs. Twitter

When I was starting my career in international bank marketing, “threads” meant just the right pattern suit fabric to add to the Monday through Friday winter and summer collection. Casual wear was a few slacks, shorts and sweaters. Today, threads can be something else.

Meta”™s new Twitter-buster, Threads, is a social media fashion forward, with 100 million users signed up within days of debut. Bored with your current social media habit — or fix? Threads is beckoning, if only because Twitter is withering.

Twitter owner Elon Musk is as polarizing a figure as is the 45th President. Twitter, before his purchase, was the epicenter of conversation for influentials and their wannabee followers. The jury is out on advertiser enrollment with a new CEO there, but plenty of advertisers already jumped on the Threads bandwagon with their own unpaid content. For any social media content team, that”™s lightning-fast trial and execution.

Per the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “At least two third-party estimates suggest Twitter traffic has been falling in tandem, an indication that its users may be leaving it for Threads rather than attempt to juggle both … Twitter said it had roughly 535 million monetizable monthly active users in June.” The WSJ added, “Twitter has struggled to turn a profit for most of its history.”

SimilarWeb”™s data shows Twitter”™s traffic down 5% for the two days after the wide release of Threads, according to a report by CNBC.

Twitter may also become a digital broadcaster if they align with Tucker Carlson. On the other hand, Bob Iger, Disney CEO has sensed the traditional television programming distribution model is doomed (he”™s right, but not for a few years) and is talking about a “partner” for ESPN. Social Media could very well become the repository for traditional broadcast content. They seemingly have the bandwidth! But have you ever noticed how Prime, Netflix, and so forth can be laboriously slow in loading at home some nights? Not your social media; that is always fast. Expect a battle of the bandwidth to drive broadcast TV to its new distribution models.

Threads rapid adoption is courtesy of the seamlessness of having an Instagram account (and more than two billion worldwide users). But once enrolled, if you delete Threads, you lose Instagram. That”™s cunning. Threads is NG for ads (now), but it”™s working to bring Instagram”™s branded content tools to the app, according to Axios, allowing brands paid promotions with influencers.

At present, the compensation model idealized by advertiser and influencer norms is a flat fee for content creation and some cut of the realized revenue. Having hired influencers, flat fee only, is a bust, though the advertiser is basically treating the content creator/influencer as media unto themselves. These creators see themselves as franchisors the advertiser must pay based on monthly yield. In a way, these individuals are as worthy brand custodians as ad agencies. One of the publication Ad Age’s interviewed (name withheld) influencer-creators expressed their role with suitable clarity as being to give in-house social media staff some orientation to how to win friends and influence people. This influencer-creator said, “When making content, I always like to pose the question, ‘Why share, why care?’” Meaning, why are we sharing this content, and why will it resonate with our audience?

When you have a strategy or a specific piece of content that blends the reason of why you”™re sharing something (awareness, acquisition, product launch, reach specific goals, etc.) with why an audience is going to care (they find it topical, helpful, entertaining, etc.) then you”™ll see optimal performance. We have crazy big goals for each channel and are hoping to use our learnings to continue to grow all of them! “Optimal performance” is a skirt-the-issue. Did the ball get moved downfield by all accounts (sales, leads) of senior management is the more appropriate MBO (management by objective) performance review of this staffer.

Introducing salesmanship and ROI (return on investment) metrics to this venture, is, alas, the domain of advertising agencies.

We urge everyone to execute video or contemplate same on “Insta” (way more contemporized than Facebook). Meta has a helluva franchise here. Imagine these influencers who find their way into your daily feed of reels. The algorithm is following you, however slight your engagement may be. Compare these influencer likes and followers to the likes of LinkedIn, which are too few and paltry at best. That doesn”™t mean people do not see your LinkedIn posts, but right now the most we can muster in terms of feedback is to congratulate work anniversaries. Not many promotions announced by comparison, but in socially-oriented business meeting areas like Westchester and Fairfield, keeping those photos of the last gathering just attended covers a lot of social media turf. It”™s name recognition for the followers, sort of brand recognition for their employers and it fits the bill: zero cost. We can do so much better by enticing viewers with video explications, but that requires creative minds and bold marketers — even bolder wallets.

WSJ and marketing trade pubs are hot on this Threads comeuppance as well as the same for influencer-led content. It is summertime and media cycles are not so chockablock with “big news” stories.

Musk, with a typical barb to Threads, tweeted: “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.” Musk”™s frequent tweets on politics have been known to arouse strong reactions from both fans and critics.

Twitter is an influential platform with big time engagement by public figures, celebrities and politicians. “Must hear” conversations were happening in real time that users had to be in on, as well as any nuclear ego meltdowns. Twitter was no holds barred. If they do take up programming like a Tucker Carlson, advertisers need assurances. As for Threads do’s and don”™ts, there are many features pipelined but not functioning at this writing.