Why Creators and Substack Writers Should join Instagram Threads
And why I'm taking a break from Substack Notes.
Hello Everyone,
You can follow me on Threads here. https://www.threads.net/@michaelkevinspencer
It’s a big moment when a new Platform hits the internet and goes to #1 on the app stores in terms of downloads, those windows of opportunity for writers and text-based Creators are rare. That Threads is mostly text based is just huge!
I hope you are having a good summer! I’ve been struggling with Creator burnout without feeling like I have the ability to take a full break. If you are making your living in the Creator Economy, perhaps you know the feeling?
Threads the Bottom Line?
Writers and personal brands are finding it easier to get discovered on Threads compared with Twitter and all other alternatives combined.
I’m a huge advocate of creator-centric actions, and recently I have been “attacked” on Substack Notes for not “being loyal to the platform” by mentioning the importance of Threads for writers and their marketing. In my opinion, nobody has been a bigger advocate of Substack Notes and giving advice for writers to grow their Newsletters actively on there, so I will be taking a break from Notes.
I really am in the camp that writers need to hop on the trending bandwagon of where traffic might come from since referral traffic is super key to our success.
I’m not here to judge the privacy standards of Facebook or their legacy of legal, ethical and political failures. As a writer, I’m here to survive and thrive as a thought leader in my niche. Anyone can claim Facebook is vile, and they would not be wrong.
Instagram Threads is the biggest window of opportunity in a rather unfortunate social media landscape.
Twitter is likely to go bankrupt before 2025, TikTok will likely be banned, it’s going to be a winner-takes-all internet, but we knew that from the emerge of Google and Facebook as major advertisers many years ago.
Suddenly knowing how to prompt an LLM has become more important than the skill of writing. But wait, aren’t they similar?
Where are the internets of text?
Threads is a natural conclusion to all of this for the text-based internet. Even Reddit is having a moderator rebellion with very poor leadership decisions.
Meta A.I. are actually fairly good in LLMs that will impact social media for the better. Instagram Threads is way more than a Twitter clone or Twitter killer. There are subtle differences in the interface, feed and user experience that make it better than LinkedIn posts, Twitter and yet Substack Notes where mostly only other writers hang out.
I have been watching many of the more ambitions and profitable Substack Creators and they are using Threads as a springboard to a bigger following and more referral traffic. Making a new Instagram account with an account name related to your niche, getting verified, and sharing niche-centric content on there is now highly recommended.
I am platform agnostic, I’m always testing out LinkedIn, beehiiv, ConvertKit and many other platforms including Substack. Substack is where I have chosen to try to scale a paid subscription, and it’s super tough. We need all the help we can get from referral traffic from elsewhere, namely Google and other platforms where people read text like LinkedIn, Reddit and Twitter. Threads is growing so fast with so much momentum, it could swallow the momentum of Twitter, LinkedIn posts and Reddit combined.
Marketing is not easy for an indiepreneur, who needs to not only create content but find a way that it reaches a bigger audience to acquire paid subscriptions. Ever after 1.5 years it’s not a business model that I’m totally comfortable with. With a Summer dip of traffic to Substack of 9% and traffic down to ChatGPT, it’s also impacting my business and coverage of A.I. There are now so many clones and A.I. Newsletter for me to directly compete with, people using ChatGPT and creating threadboise content on LinkedIn and Twitter that outcompetes my own human curation and sharing.
Playbook for Threads
As a Substack Creator you want to be focusing on thought leadership directly related to your niche. Don’t worry too much about follower counts and attracting random people, find the right readers and for that share the right content that’s directly related to your Newsletter.
Build Thread posts related to your niche and Newsletter.
Follow accounts related to your topic and subtopics.
Share opinions, participate in dialogues and share links to your own but also to other content in your niche.
Identity the post frequency and post formats you most enjoy the most and make it consistent.
Slowly grow your Threads following in a targeted manner. Don’t blindly migrate your existing Instagram account there, but start over in a niche manner with some care to your profile name that relates directly to your niche or your name (for SEO reasons).
Personal branding on Threads related to your niche and building social proof and credibility will be extremely important if you want to get referral traffic from Threads in the long-run that’s going to be a factor in growing your audience and your business.
Impact of Threads
Facebook On Wednesday (July 5), launched Meta’s Instagram related Threads, described as a “text-based conversation app” in about 100 countries. It’s July 9th now, and it appears like Threads will reshape the web of text based connections. Since writers deal with text, you can imagine the opportunity I hope.
I believe by the time I write this article Threads likely has around 120 million users. As far as social media launches go, being tethered to Instagram accounts was always going to wildly inflate that number.
I’m a big believer in Newsletter and writing niches being part of the Threads community. I’ve seen other Newsletter Creators, YouTubers and Podcasters frankly doing very well so far.
I’ve discovered machine learning researchers in my niche, that would haven’t taken me many weeks to find on Twitter or LinkedIn in carefully curated lists by the community in my space.
This might mean letting go of some other platforms, that are toxic to your mental health without giving you adequate rewards.
Threads More Professional Content?
My target audience are serious professionals interested in the future of technology. So Threads has a lot more “professional content” than I was expecting. It has a lot of journalists and thought leaders, if not a lot of news. News publishers have hit Threads really hard because they too are tired of the lack of good referral traffic from Twitter and Reddit. So I expect to see Threads and LinkedIn doing better and Twitter and Reddit doing worse given the macro conditions and changes we are seeing.
The trend is away from Networks where we share personally, and thus on Threads we aren’t seeing a nostalgic return to previous modes of being on social media, we have literally moved on. We use Snap and some even still use Facebook for personal things. Thread is for professional thought leadership and as such some of the biggest accounts are actually in reality NYT Best sellers.
Writers should develop a personal brand on Threads
Threads will soon have a massive audience to read more about you
Threads profiles have a link at the top of your account, most use Linktree, but I advocate a direct link to your Newsletter. (mostly will not do two clicks).
A slow niche build on your niche is the best and most sustainable long-term
If you focus on high quality curation and thought leadership, quality will in the end win out. Since the internet is pay to win now, you should get verified on the new Instagram account you use, since it will likely boost your growth.
Follow me on Threads if you enjoy “Innovation and Emerging Tech”
Threads will I believe one day clone “Twitter Subscriptions”. So consider all the future possibilities. Namely:
Twitter has a high chance of going bankrupt.
TikTok could get banned.
Reddit’s Moderator rebellion is impacting traffic.
LinkedIn posts while increasing core KPI “engagement” like impressions, shows a stale network in terms of daily active users.
All of the above points to Threads being a winner-takes-all sort of app for text-based engagement in the 2023 to 2028 window.
Writers are text-based Creators.
Thus the synergy (whatever your prejudices vs. Meta), is an incredible window of opportunity if you can become one of the highest quality curators and writers in your niche with a decent account on Threads. Your advice has to be useful to your target audience as always. You cannot just promote yourself, but support the community as a whole related to your niche topic and subtopics.
Threads in the Media
The Substack Coverage of Threads has been predictable (if underwhelming):
Meta’s Twitter rival Threads explodes to 70 million signups one day after launch (CNBC)
Meta's 'friendly' Threads collides with unfriendly internet (Reuters)
Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that Threads’ algorithm is primarily about discovery. “We do rank posts lightly and show recommendations (posts from accounts you don't follow) in feed, which is particularly important for a new app before people follow enough accounts,” he posted this week. - Garbage Day
Threads isn’t for news and politics, says Instagram’s boss
But as a Newsletter Creator, don’t believe them. Even if you write about politics, investing or news, build a presence on Threads. Chances are your Twitter traffic has been screwed, so what do you have to lose?
In recent years, Meta has distanced itself from news and politics, yet the demand for Threads users is clearly in the professional and News categories, and all else, anything goes while the “honeymoon” phase lasts. It could last easily until September, 2023.
Threads was official launched on July 6th, 2023.
It was timed nearly perfectly with chaos at Twitter and Reddit and with the summer lull that had seen even ChatGPT enthusiasm and traffic wane.
Silicon Valley always has a next hype train.
As TikTok has disrupted Meta’s Instagram and Advertising footprint, and as Amazon quickly improves in becoming an advertising machine with Apple and Microsoft planning to do the same, Facebook and its “family of apps” had to do something. The Metaverse wasn’t going anywhere.
The Instagram boss later clarified his initial response, stating that while Threads won’t “discourage or down-rank news or politics,” it won’t “court” them as Facebook has in the past. - The Verge
I wholeheartedly agree with trying platform that are going viral. I see a lot of writers with strong ideological frameworks that actually inhibit their growth, while Substack’s anti-Ads and now anti-Twitter rhetoric may be to blame, the internet still needs writers. Even if some writers prefer to craft in their small corners.
For writers that are trying to build a business, all platforms are windows to potential readers and lead generation at all costs is a hustle for many of us that hope to pay the bills with our Substack.
Threads is Great for
Book authors
YouTubers
Substack or Newsletter Creators
Curators and aggregators
Experts in a niche
Thought leaders
Journalists
PR and brands
Members of the public with an opinion
Professionals following an industry
Founders and CEOs
The incredible traffic that Threads will have as Twitter continues to decline if TikTok gets banned might be significant over the next few months.
Writers like other creators need to learn to ride hype waves and be opportunistic in a timely banner with news and breaking news, since that’s how you stay relevant in your topic and over time develop some social proof and credibility as a good source.
Some people have their “brand trick” like Apricitas Economics sharing their charts that are getting a lot of traffic on Threads, and others have their own unique value propositions in what they offer. On LinkedIn posts, you can see that visual branding is also extremely important. But Threads is thankfully, more about the text vibe.
For Meta, this is also a way to get some people back to Instagram, who will use the IG-Threads combo more effectively to lure traffic and clicks. I know a lot of us have left Instagram as daily or monthly active users in recent years though Facebook does not admit this.
For most writers just focusing on Threads I think will be sufficient, perhaps with a WhatsApp Business account as well.
A lot of writers on Substack are saying publically on Notes that Threads isn’t a good alternative. I’m afraid Substack’s own ideology may have gotten the better of them or they aren’t actual Creators, I cannot honestly tell the difference. But for the hungry ones who want to build a business, joining Threads is non-negotiable. Substack really messed up with Twitter, it wasn’t some unliteral thing with Elon Musk. One wonders if Substack will do well on Threads, for its own ideological reasons and that Meta might clone Twitter subscriptions. It remains a distinct possibility.
Subsack is already banned in China, which is only 18% of the world’s population. The platforms you choose as a writer, do have real world consequences. Platforms are not “good by nature”. Their incentives tend to be toxic in various ways, we all know this, we’ve all been on social media unfortunately for a while and since the internet has evolved in a rather centralized way, it’s a bit late to rebel against the machine of algorithms.
People at large:
Reads less than in years past
Consume less social media (there is an exodus as the mean pop ages and rises)
Video has cannibalized text
Facebook has copied competitors and undermined them with monopolistic practices at scale
Yet we live in a world where OnlyFans is more known than Substack. Supporting the future of text in any format on the internet, is sort of important for the economic survival of writers and reading at large. Platforms like Medium, Patreon and the Creator Economy are not thriving in recent years, the Ads slowdown has shown us how tethered we are to Advertising revenue as a whole.
Threads could become a significant referral traffic source for Substack writers, before they are blocked entirely.
This Ain’t your Ideological Private One-to-One Thread
Is Threads like a Niche Utopia?
“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” Instagram says in its description of the app. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”
This sounds to me like text-based dialogues in niches are going to be a big deal. Not so unlike a Newsletter Niche. It’s likely Meta will introduce Newsletters tethered to Threads, you do realize! So there might only be a limited window for Substack Creators to thrive here.
I caught a few Meta Executives and former executives making fun of “desperate substacks” that leads me to this conclusion. Meta clones everyone, and we have gotten used to it as Monopoly Capitalism has set in on the American internet big-time in the 2020s.
Several prominent Substack writers are doing extremely well on Threads. Many of have vibrant Twitter accounts, and friends in powerful places in journalism, tech and so forth. They have gotten tens of thousands of followers on Threads in a few days, already increasing the Instagram followers they migrated with. The Substack Newsletter publications with a budget, have heavily invested in Threads already, just a few days in.
How to Build Community - Who has the most to gain?
While Threads has no “web-app” officially yet, you can view accounts on the web and copy and paste usernames and make lists in your niche to share with your audience, which is a good hack for more traffic and finding the targeting that matters. Consider how to do that in your niche in a way that makes sense for you. Whatever kind of a writer you are, you could share lists of your peers that would be helpful to your audience.
Finance Writers
Political Writers
News Writers
Technology Writers
Literature and Poetry Writers (who have done well on Instagram as a whole)
Hobbyist Creators & Culure Writers
Finance and political writers on Substack have likely lost the most in terms of traffic with Twitter’s behavior towards Substack. They would likely have the most to gain from focusing on Threads to stimulate and find their ecosystem there. For those of us who focus on aspects of News and Technology topics, it may be an even bigger opportunity in terms of product market fit with the audience of Threads. I’m a big believer in the professional content side of Threads, given the lack of authentic conversations on LinkedIn that’s more of a “PR-cringe” driven channel.
Threads could realistically cannibalize traffic from not just Twitter, but:
The “interface minimalism and utility” of Threads could take traffic from:
Twitter
Reddit
LinkedIn
TikTok
Facebook (yes its own app, that is a mess btw)
Other apps and sites that are text based or where Creators can be found (Medium, Pinterest, Snap, etc…)
Threads will also impact the traffic of:
Yahoo
OpenAI (a fad replacing a fad)
Bing
Discord
Quora
Slack
Threads obviously hurts Twitter, Reddit and LinkedIn the most if it gets big like it seem to be doing. Let’s see how it fares after the hype of the first few weeks.
Thanks for reading!
🎺 Around the Horn!
I really do find the Substack “independent” commentaries on Threads a bit underwhelming with the usual ideological platitudes and sentiment driven bells and whistles. But let’s try to keep an open-mind.
Why Threads Won't Solve the News Crisis
Brands Are Recycling Old Tweets on Threads
There is of course some possibility that the launch of Threads spells the eventual disruption of Substack. Meta had a Newsletter product called Bulletin that failed but with Twitter Subscriptions, the model for Creators to gain a paid subscription is something Meta will certainly end up copying in some form, sooner or later successfully.
Perhaps this is why Substack has not mentioned Threads. I don’t even follow Substack’s own PR that was exclusively on Twitter before. They certainly did not address the schism with Twitter in a way that I found very responsible, open and transparent. But they are just a small team.
Media is in decline and has been for some time. There’s no guarantee independent media will survive judging from the performance of Medium, Substack and Patreon in recent times. Is the written word doomed by social media and our retreat from algorithmic feeds? Paywalls or private communities as an alternative, doesn’t feel that much better. Namely, following Newsletters doesn’t make necessarily less prone to technological loneliness or help me feel more informed. But perhaps you are hardwired differently?
Threads has the potential to be much more viral than ChatGPT in my book.
Threads’ big political questions
Threads, The Fastest Growing Product Since ChatGPT
The big question for me though, that many of these people don’t seem to cover, is will Threads be good for Creators and writers?
🥗 Food for Thought 🍔
Can Newsletters benefit from Threads?
Will Threads disrupt the left-over internet of text?
Will Threads make Twitter go Bankrupt?
Will Threads be good for Creators, authors and the future of writing?
Will Threads end up “cannibalizing” many other others and platforms?
We have a lot to think about, and thread towards.
May you find whole peace of mind and body, Michael.
I don’t have anything wise to say about the substance of your post, but personally I’ll comment that my first exposure (only several months ago!) to the Creator Economy in general and Substack in particular was through your focused and thoughtful writing, which speaks to the effort you put in these conversations. Thank you for all you taught me, and you’ll be missed on Notes.
Spot on!