Threads Bridges Two Social Eras
Sharing on social channels is in decline, but it’s not because people are sharing less; it’s that they’re sharing differently. 63% of consumers share information or content through private messaging apps. That’s followed by social media accounts with 54%. Clearly, users are moving from more public, more polished social presences to more private, more real spaces.
How Will the Platforms Pivot?
This shift is not what the big social platforms are geared for. Facebook is broadcasting your life updates to personal and tangential connections. Instagram is putting your art on a stage for the world to see. Twitter is broadcasting your thoughts on in-the-moment topics. These tools have messages and intimate features, but intimacy is not at the core of what they do or ever really will.
Introducing, Threads. Threads is a new app from Instagram that does a couple things. First and foremost, it is designed to be a substitute for Snapchat. Snapchat built itself up as a one-to-one messaging platform with ephemeral messages. Facebook’s been wanting to find a way to clone it and eat away at its user base for some time. Second, it's designed to help users stay connected and share content with their closest friends. The app ties into the Close Friends feature on Instagram. Close Friends is a list of Instagram users people want to stay connected with the most. That list forms the basis of who users share and interact with on Threads. It’s not about broadcasting your thoughts to the world. It’s about connecting with those who mean most.
Threads is a move by Instagram (and parent company Facebook) to transition its users from the social media broadcast era to the private messaging one. It’s a space that Snapchat was founded on, and apps like WhatsApp and Messenger (both Facebook-owned) have thrived under. Social networks weren’t founded under this idea. Yes, they have had successes, but they don’t want to give up the user bases on their core social platforms. They want to transition them to products they own before a competitors woo them away.
Two Social Eras
Whether or not Threads takes off is debatable (my guess is it won’t), but what it represents isn’t. Social platforms are pivoting to where users are—toward real, personal connections. People are growing tired of the broadcast, engagement scoring rat rase that social media became. People are ready for tools that enable relationships. They’re ready to become people, not media, and Threads wants to be there waiting for them.