• by Colin Kirkland , July 8, 2024

One year into its public launch, Threads has accumulated over 175 million active users.

As the Instagram-adjacent app continues to grow, executives hope it will overtake X as the leading microblogging platform.

However, a new report by The Washington Post shows that there is a major audience integral to social media success that is currently absent from Threads: Content creators.

“I don’t think any of the creators I have even post on Threads,” Keith Dorsey, founder and CEO of social-media talent management company Young Guns Entertainment told The Washington Post. “We’d forget it’s there if it wasn’t for the automatic notifications.”

Content creators are reportedly failing to understand the point of Threads, with Lia Haberman, an independent digital strategist and author of the ICYMI newsletter on marketing and the creator economy telling The Post that “Threads still seems like a platform in search of a mission.”

“The focus isn’t news,” she adds. “It’s not about visual creativity or video, like Instagram or TikTok. So what is it?”

The report hits on major blind spots included in recent responses from Meta executives regarding what Threads is and what it should become. Over the past year, for example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri have flip-flopped on Threads’ relationship to news content.

In the app's attempt to draw a line between itself and X – a core design and marketing strategy for Meta – Threads was supposed to be news-averse, at least in terms of controversial topics. The app went as far as to block potentially contentious terms like “covid” and “vaccinations.” However, in a recent interview, Mosseri said that “politics are on Threads, and they will always be on Threads.”

Right now, Meta says that the majority of news engagement among younger Threads users is entertainment-based, with 67% of Gen Z users keeping up with music, food, fashion and hot topics, marking a shift away from news and politics. But prioritizing light-hearted news, which exists on every major platform, does not provide Threads with a specific identity.

While all leading social-media apps share similar features, they all launched with a unique identity before introducing copycat updates for ad dollars and competition’s sake. Threads launched as a clear copycat of X in a time when Musk was destroying Twitter. It has yet to define itself as anything unique.

The one trend shared by Meta that stands out has to do with the comparative absence of images and video in posts. Right now, 63% of Threads posts, according to the tech giant, are text-only when every other leading social app (aside from X) prioritizes video and images.

Some creators who spoke with The Post enjoy the new text-based environment, choosing to post things they don't on other channels. “Everything on TikTok has to have intention, and it's going to be taken seriously,” says news content creator V Spehar. “Threads is low stakes. I can just say whatever I want and have fun.”

While this outlook aligns with the vibe of the app, according to statements made by Meta executives, it has resulted in the spread of generic posting and engagement, with the leading topic tags created on the app including photography, books, gyms, art and Taylor Swift’s newest record.

Meta says that it is still testing a new bonus program, “a small, invite-only program” that “rewards creators for their creativity.”