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The introduction of tags—similar to other platforms’ hashtags—to Threads has made the platform more discoverable for marketers, but a smaller audience base is still holding back more investment.
Recently released globally, text-based tags work like hashtags on other platforms. However, there are several differences. Instead of limiting the topic tag to just one word, users can type whole topics with spaces and add special characters, according to Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram. However, each post on Threads is limited to only one tag.
“Discoverability on content and individual posts was definitely an issue for brands on Threads,” said Liz Cole, chief social officer at WPP’s VMLY&R. “I see this being a real game changer in how brands look at Threads. Instead of relying on people actively opting into following them, they can get in front of people based on interests, topics or keywords.”
However, Threads, which will launch in European Union countries later this week, is seeing dwindling daily active users, posing a concern for brands with limited resources that often prefer platforms with broader reach, like TikTok. And while some laud an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, which is becoming increasingly an unsafe environment for brands under Elon Musk’s watch, Threads still has a way to go to rival the latter’s salience for real-time culture, sports and entertainment content.
Earlier in July, Threads reported a total of 111.6 million people signing up to the app days after its launch.
Despite a promising start, since then, brands’ posting cadence has slowed, and some data shows growth slowing. In the U.S., monthly active users on Threads for iOS and Android saw a modest 1.7% increase month-over-month in November, per Similarweb.
“We are still not fielding many requests from brands to use Threads,” said Jessica Phillips, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency The Social Standard. “You have to have a lot more users for this to be of any use to anyone. This continues to be the ultimate issue for Threads.”
Tags driving real-time conversations
Ultimately, facilitating real-time conversations—a feature that marketers appreciated in X—could decide the fate of tags for brands.
Content pieces featuring article links or news stories don’t perform as well on Threads, according to managing director at We Are Social Dana Neujahr. Instead, posts that serve as conversation starters rather than real-time content strategies tend to perform better.
