Threads: What Businesses Need to Know About the Hottest New Social Channel

You may be asking yourself: What’s Threads?

Many small business owners have heard of the novel social media platform but don’t know what it’s about or how to use it.

This guide explains the basics of Threads and reveals how to prepare to leverage it for marketing.

What Businesses Need to Know About Threads

What Is Threads?

Threads, launched just a couple of months ago, is Instagram’s text-based conversation app. It is viewed by many as a possible alternative to X, which was formerly known as Twitter. X is considered by many as unstable, not trustworthy, and a little controversial since Elon Musk took it over.

Currently, Threads is fully integrated with Instagram. People who want to use Threads must have an Instagram account to access it. The integration with the popular Instagram, coupled with the unpopularity of X, is probably why Threads took off so quickly. It has grown much faster than any other app; it had 100 million active users within its first ten days of operation.

Users of Instagram can quickly transfer their profile information and followers to their Threads account, making adopting the app easy. They can embed Thread posts into their Stories and profile bios, likely generating more interest in the new app. In addition, Threads has promised to help facilitate positive and productive online conversations—a far cry from Twitter’s reputation for being a toxic social environment.

Create a Profile on Threads: Getting Started

If you’re already on Instagram, getting started with Threads couldn’t be easier.

1. Sign in with your Instagram account and click Join.

2. Customize your profile or choose to import your bio details from Instagram.

3. Choose whether you want a private or public profile. Be aware that people under 16 years old (or 18 in some countries) will be defaulted to a private profile.

4. Decide who you want to follow.

5. Once you do these things, you can start enjoying the Threads experience.

So, how does Threads differ from X? We’ll explain based on our interactions with it.

Threads: Key Features

On Threads, users can post messages of up to 500 characters, share photos, and publish videos of up to five minutes in length, which is comparable to X.

Threads currently has five tabs, each offering a different experience.

1. Feed tab. Users see posts from followers and other users.

2. Search tab. Thread users can navigate to other profiles.

3. New post tab. Users can begin a new thread.

4. Activity tab. Thread users can view follow requests, replies, likes, mentions, quotes, and reposts.

5. Profile tab. Users can view and change their profiles.

When it comes to the user interface, it’s challenging to tell Threads apart from X. You could come away thinking Threads was Twitter after an update.

Threads has buttons for likes, replies, reposts, and threads. However, its functionality is still relatively limited. Currently, users cannot:

• Scroll through a feed of just their followers.

• Send direct messages or enjoy DM features.

• View trending topics and stories.

• Use hashtags.

• Change posts after publishing.

• Search for conversations.

• Switch accounts, which is a significant barrier for businesses that want to use it for marketing.

• Access complete functionality on a desktop device.

These limitations have left many users dissatisfied. The original 100 million have fallen to half of that. Meta, the company that owns Threads, is adding new features to the platform to retain people and attract new ones.

Threads for Marketing

A lot is changing in the text-based social space. After Twitter’s latest rebrand, some (or many) users may move to platforms like Threads.

Social apps come and go. Before Threads, there was Spill, Hive Social, BlueSky, Mastodon, and others. Some are still active and expanding their user base.

Given Threads’ scale and reach and the direct connection to the popular Instagram platform, Threads outperformed many other competitors immediately after launch. This makes it more likely it will survive.

When it comes to marketing, it probably makes sense to become familiar with Threads. Don’t wait until the learning curve gets steeper. Start exploring now, along with everyone else. Watch how users interact and what your competitors are up to.

This will prepare you to leverage Threads for marketing when the time is right. And when it comes to Meta and its ability to monetize social media, that time could be soon.

More: Check out how to use social media to get people to check out your content.