Threads: Classical music’s guide to Meta’s Twitter rival
Facebook and Instagram’s owner Meta has unveiled its long-awaited competitor to Twitter. Already boasting millions of sign-ups in the first few hours and being backed by the world’s largest social media company, it will be hard to ignore. But what does this mean for people and organisations in the classical music world?
We’re going to have a quick look at what Threads is, how you get started, and what to do if you’re a musician or a classical music organisation.
What is Threads?
Threads is a new app from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. It is designed to be a direct competitor to Twitter. If you’ve used Twitter, it’s going to feel very familiar – short text-based pieces of content, likes and reposts. You can quote a thread similar to quote tweeting.
You can send posts of up to 500 characters, include images, gifs, and videos of up to five minutes in length.
Currently, there is no ability to search for hashtags or phrases.
How do you sign up?
You sign up for Threads using your Instagram login. You’ll be able to follow all the accounts you already follow on Instagram on Threads automatically as they join.
Is it available everywhere?
Not just yet. It’s launched in over 100 countries, including the UK and USA, but will the launch in Europe has been delayed.
Are there any criticisms?
One of the main criticisms of Threads in the hours since it launched is that people are seeing a mixture of posts from the accounts they’re following and then a bunch of random accounts.
This could benefit you in terms of being discovered by new accounts, but it also makes it annoying for users to see lots of accounts they don’t follow.
What do I do as a musician?
Being a very close copy of Twitter, you can apply your approach from that platform to Threads. The benefits of Twitter for musicians are the ability to have a dialogue with audiences, join conversations, and provide event listings and updates.
As many venues, orchestras, and Opera Houses use Twitter to announce concerts, one of its big benefits was the ability for them to tag you in posts announcing events etc. If these organisations continue this approach into Threads, this will be a big bonus for you too.
What do I do as a classical music organisation?
Just like for musicians, the fact that Threads is a copy of Twitter should mean you can import your strategy for now as we all work out the differences between the platform and consumer behaviour.
Being owned by Meta, it should be a platform that is hard to ignore so it is probably worth jumping on early.
However, if you’re currently swamped, you don’t have to worry about someone stealing your username. At the moment, Meta requires you to use your Instagram to log in, giving users the same username. So there isn’t the ability for someone to steal your username.
What sort of content should I post?
Like all social media, the content that works best are posts that provide value and allow people to be social. For people and organisations in the classical music industry, there is a temptation to use Twitter to just post event updates and ask people to buy tickets, which isn’t the best for engagement.
This will be the same for Threads. Although that is definitely something you can do, those “action” strands of content should be interspersed with more user-focused content.
Also, as a new platform with unknown user behaviour, there is likely to be room for experimentation and trying to find an approach that works best for you.
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