Our members share their initial thoughts on Threads…
Hot Topic: AdNews recently connected with our AiMCO members for comment on their thoughts about Threads when it launched.
Steph Pearson, National Head of Social & Innovation at Omnicom Media Group said, “ For the influencers, the new social platform promises more engagement if creators invest in the upload and evolution of Threads”.
“Threads uses a single login which means that Instagram handles and verification badges are reserved based on existing Instagram accounts," said Pearson. "As part of this ecosystem, creators can also follow the accounts on Threads that they already follow on Instagram with just one tap."
Pearson notes this has meant a significant number of influencers both globally and locally have expanded to the new app and have amassed great followings in a short time. For it to take full effect and be of benefit, creators will need to engage with Threads on a continual basis, she said.
“The platform has globally had more than 100 million downloads, and is the #1 downloaded app in Australia today,” said Pearson. “To date we are seeing influencers post on their accounts at an extremely high frequency of up to 20 threads being posted in the last 24 hours, with engagement being very low with just a handful of replies or likes.”
Emily Hatzopoulos, Senior Talent Manager at independent influencer marketing agency Born Bred Talent, said as Meta provided the function to "follow all" when users made a new Threads account, they removed the main barrier that stops creators from wanting to jump on a new platform. “Having to start fresh on a platform can be daunting for creators as they do essentially have to rebuild and reconnect with their audience, but it can also be vital opportunity to connect with a new audience,” said Hatzopoulos.
“Threads did a great job at providing influencers with a sense of security in the ‘follow all’ feature.”
Creators Taz & Alessia, prominent on TikTok and Instagram, said influencers and creators are early adopters by nature, so they’ve been quick to create an account and start experimenting on Threads.
“There is a huge incentive to jump on Threads, which is the automatic follow button. We don’t have to start from scratch again which is a major bonus!,” they said. “A lot of creators are using Threads as a way to show a different side of their personality which has been nice to see and interact with. There are so many creators who are smart, funny and have needed a place that feels more like a diary, and isn’t as polished as Instagram.”
Hatzopoulos thinks the real question is whether or not promotion on Threads would be effective for advertisers and media buyers.
“At the moment, a lot of people are enjoying threads for how unfiltered and candid it is, and seeing influencers utilise it for sponsored content may have adverse effects - only time will tell,” she said.
Creators who have dived into the space are currently self promoting their own product or service. Steph Pearson noted that Meta has not indicated yet indicated plans for monetisation on Threads.
“Instead it's being explored as part of an influencers’ organic social marketing approach. Much could emerge from Instagram’s rollout of the latest chat-based platform” said Pearson.
She suspects that for Meta, text-based conversations will add a lot of real-time signals about user interests and behaviours, and will continue to for some time, assuming the platform does scale and adds advertising opportunities.
“Threads is already working on improvements using feedback from creators with the intention to improve trends and topic, search functionality and messaging,” said Pearson.
These additional signals will help to influence the types of ads that are delivered and importantly improve the training of their AI algorithms in ad delivery, she said.
“This will likely have benefits for advertisers in targeting speed and accuracy. With the move to monetization this will provide influencers with the opportunity to deliver incremental value to advertisers looking to expand branded content partnerships on Threads.”
Hatzopoulos from Born Bred Talent said it’s difficult to say what might come about from Threads.
“So many platforms have come and gone and whether or not Threads will steadily hold users attention is hard to say. I think it will depend largely on what the top creators around the world do with their Threads accounts,” she said.
If key influencers and opinion leaders continue to provide quality content, says Hatzopoulos, people are more likely to see viewers continue using it.
“It also has the potential to open up the doors for people who haven’t found their stride across Instagram or TikTok and could do so in a text-based format. We may see new creators emerge on threads who haven’t successfully gained influence on other platforms.”
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