Threads: Stitching together a new social experience
In July 2023, at the height of anxiety over the new ownership of X (the artist formerly known as Twitter), Meta launched a new text-based social app called Threads. More than 100 million users joined after the initial launch, and some even posed a scenario in which Threads could take down Twitter.
A year later, Threads has not replaced Twitter but has grown steadily to more than 200 million users worldwide. Threads has some of the same markers as X, in that it is used mainly for text-based information and opinion sharing, as well as short-form discussions and storytelling.
Who can we connect with on Threads?
According to figures from March 2024, the largest age demographic of users is 25-34 years old, representing 36.39% of total Threads users. The second largest age group is 18-24 year-olds. Based on these demographics, we’ve positioned our primary audiences toward students and young alumni.
What kind of content works on Threads?
Meta provided usage data in July 2024 that suggests that its users are coming to Threads for text rather than images, noting that 63% of all Threads posts are text-only.
Similar to other social platforms, Threads allows users to tag posts to ensure their content reaches people with similar interests. According to the recent usage data, more than 50K tags are in use, with the top three being PhotographyThreads, BookThreads, and GymThreads.
Another feature that has been added to Threads is the ability to create polls. The opportunity to engage our audiences in interactive content is something we’ve seen great success with on Instagram Stories, and we plan to test this out further as we experiment with content. Here’s an example of a poll that was posted on our UMNTwinCities Threads account.
Expanding our reach
The University Relations social media team continues to look for opportunities to expand our reach on social media. Establishing a fresh and unique presence on emerging platforms like Threads is crucial to maintaining our strategic advantage and to keeping our communication fresh and relevant. (We also want to acknowledge that we're not the first UMN presence on Threads, there have been a few accounts to blaze a trail before us!)
It’s still early days for the UMNtwincities Threads account, but we look forward to learning about our growing audience and optimizing our content for this unique new platform.
Read more information on our high-level Threads strategy. Please feel free to reach out to our team (dorner@umn.edu) if you have questions about joining Threads.