Meta launched Threads, its Instagram text-based platform that's poised to rival Twitter, without ads. But Meta reps are in close conversations with ad agencies and brands about how the platform will work and has shared a presentation with several agencies outlining how Threads could potentially become the new Twitter. 

In the presentation, viewed by Ad Age, Meta emphasizes the control brands and users will have in Threads, applying the same community guidelines as Instagram. Brand safety and community standards have been one of the main concerns around Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover last year. Meta has dealt with those same issues, but its team has done extensive work with top brands to establish advertising controls.

“I’m hopeful that the inventory filter, with pre-bid controls aligned with GARM [Global Alliance for Responsible Media] standards, will be available once they enable ads, too,” said an ad agency executive who has talked with Meta about Threads, and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Inventory filters are an ad product rolled out widely this year for brands to manage where paid posts appear in feeds and videos.

Also read: See brands' first posts to Threads

Opinion: How Threads can empower brands with better engagement

Although Threads does not yet have ads, all new Meta products eventually apply monetization. Meta’s TikTok clone Reels incorporated ads, while Stories, which was a copy of Snap, also has ads. 

Meta’s Threads presentation also notes that Threads will adopt interoperability with Mastodon, the decentralized social media app. That means brands, and users, can take their followings with them if they ever leave the platform. Meta also said that DMs, trends and search functions would come soon.

Without trending topics, it’s difficult to see what conversations are the most vibrant at any given moment on Threads, which makes it less real-time than Twitter, so far. “If Threads can fairly quickly improve some functionality that Twitter already loves, they’re going to kill Twitter,” said one top ad agency executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Related: Twitter tries to assuage advertisers' concerns at Cannes

Threads is an algorithm-based feed, so the content people see is determined by machines, like it is on TikTok. There are verified accounts with checkmarks, which come from getting authenticated on Instagram. The check marks are not the only way to get recommended to new users on Threads, a Meta spokesperson said in an email to Ad Age.

Brands are trying to figure out Threads, and like any new social media product, how to gain popularity. The mechanics of all social platforms are different, and social media managers always look for hacks to game the algorithms. Another agency executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Meta advised that “Threads is an early experience and is not essential to your core presence on Meta platforms.”

“So, they’re not pushing [brands] hard out of the gate,” the executive said. “More looking to scale users and enhance features before bringing in brands in any significant way.”

GaryVee unravels Threads

To this end, Threads tapped some early users to test the platform before it officially launched. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia, was on Threads days before it launched widely on Wednesday, giving Instagram’s Twitter killer a try when the app had just about 1,000 testers total. Now, just a couple of days after its official release, Vaynerchuk is sitting at almost 550,000 followers on Threads. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted to Threads yesterday revealing there were 30 million signups by Thursday morning, and that number rose to 70 million by Friday morning. 

Vaynerchuk has been here before, with 3.1 million followers on Twitter and 10.1 million on Instagram. But the surge in interest in Threads, and how quickly Instagram promoted the new app, makes it uniquely positioned to compete with Twitter, Vaynerchuk said.

“This launch is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the last 20 years of contemporary social networks,” Vaynerchuk said. The special sauce, if one can call it that, is the fact that Threads is bound to Instagram, so new signups have instant access to invite their followers. That’s worked out well for brands, including Netflix (1.2 million Threads followers as of writing), Wendy’s (75,000 Threads followers), Pepsi (53,000 Threads followers) and Dunkin’ (52,000 Threads followers).

“Right off the top, I think it has a much better chance of working,” Vaynerchuk said, “because you actually have a community that’s built in that’s coming over from Instagram.”

The mood on Threads was exuberant as newcomers piled in. Threads has been in development for months since Meta detected an opening after Musk bought Twitter. Musk’s Twitter has had issues with advertisers and complaints from users over new policies, and rivals sensed a moment to pounce. There has been a flurry of new apps, including Spill, Mastodon and Bluesky, that are hoping to create a new digital town square.

Twitter is fighting for its position, however. The site has a hold on the daily conversation around sports, entertainment, news and general internet culture. Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino, who was brought in last month to help Musk fix Twitter’s relationships with brands, posted a call to the community yesterday, reminding people why Twitter exists: “You built the Twitter community, and that’s irreplaceable,” Yaccarino tweeted. “We’re often imitated, but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.”

Twitter also threatened to sue Meta yesterday over Threads, with a letter claiming the new app used its trade secrets, according to Semafor. On Threads, Meta's director of communications Andy Stone said that Musk's allegations were completely false. "That's not a thing," Stone posted.

Threads shows that there is a yearning for a new place online, according to advertising leaders. “Clearly people are hungry for a legit Twitter alternative, anything other than Twitter, that replicates the Twitter experience at its best,” said Chapin Clark, R/GA’s executive creative director, and the voice of R/GA’s popular Twitter handle.

For brands, the launch of a new Twitter-style app is a chance to test out a new social media voice. Brands that may never have understood Twitter and its rhythms could see Threads as a new beginning, Vaynerchuk said.

“A lot of brands and a lot of people are not overly great at Twitter content,” Vaynerchuk said. “Twitter has always sat as a very different social network compared to the others. It’s much more watercooler, and it’s a different tone and tenor. A lot of brands have a lot of followers on Instagram. Some brands have 500,000 followers on Instagram, and they have 463 on Twitter because they never made the commitment.”

“So, I think you’re going to see a lot of people learn the concept of Twitter through Threads,” Vaynerchuk said.