About Thread?

On Wednesday July 5, 2023, a new social media platform launched. It was a MVP; a Minimally Viable Product from Meta (Instagram/Facebook) that may (or may not) have been rushed to life as an answer to Twitter.

Plans for the new platform were confirmed only a few months earlier and after only five days over 100 million signups have made this new platform a juggernaut.

Thread is lunched in competition of Twitter.

What is Threads?

It's the top free app in the Apple App Store, and the top trending topic today on Twitter (irony is bliss). Just a few days before Threads launched Twitter users found that they were restricted in viewing Tweets, which only heightened the glee with which they flocked away from the bird and entered the Threads-dom.

Although with any launch of a product or platform, early days functionality can be suspect, what there is so far is proving addictively fun for me:

Each post on Threads has a limit of 500 characters.

If you are in Instagram, joining is easy and you can import everyone you follow on Instagram or person/brand by person. It was a good time to be selective, and I went minimalist in the importing. Since I joined on the first day I opted to follow some folks if/when they, too, join Threads. And i can track that within the platform.

Thread accounts can be visible to everyone or made private.

Threads can be snoozed or temporarily deactivated once joined, but only deleted if the user also deletes Instagram.

Additional functionality is underway, but right now type carefully as there is no editing yet!

Although brands and organizations are there with their own accounts (Starbucks, Bookshop.org, and Dunkin' are active and frequently very fun/funny), there are no ads at this time.

In the works as per Meta is a more robust search function, enabling hashtags, trending topics, and a version for desktop (right now it is only app for phones)

Thread is for creator In my opinion: Yes; and here's my link. Threads is a tool for creators to spread awareness of their writing and maximize their reach. Like any tools, make sure you are clear about the purpose and use before jumping in.

Threads is similar in functionality to a Insta-Twitter hybrid. That means just posting a link to a Vocal post and sitting back collecting adoration and reads is probably not going to work. (Pro Tip: This really doesn't work anywhere else, either, so...)

I don't expect to get much, if any, reads from my Vocal posts right now. that's because the whole platform is in a giddy "look at me! Look at us! This is NEW!' phase, and only the most compelling anything is going to get people to click something that takes them out of the Threads platform.

Craft your post with a compelling phrase, question, timely thought, and make the link the afterthought. Right now I am posting to move my work onto my Threads profile and creating a brand. I am posting one or two links a day, and including my Medium content, too.

Your lead image is also very important on Threads. As you go forward with new content be sure you are choosing images that will stop the scroll and keep eyes on what you are sharing.

I have links to both my Vocal and Medium profile in my Threads profile header. I want to make it as easy as possible to find me when people are ready to read. (Pro Tip: This is a good time to look at your Vocal profile and tidy it up for new readers. Do you need a new bio? Header? Change up your pinned stories?)

Vocal has an account, so be sure to tag @vocal_creators when you share a link to your Vocal content.