Kenya-based influencers share insights into Meta’s Threads

When Facebook owner Meta announced the launch of the Threads platform to rival Twitter, among the very first social media users who embarked on figuring out what the move meant were influencers and brand promoters.

The new app, which had amassed more than 109 million sign-ups as of Friday in just a week after rollout, has got a range of starkly contrasting features from its main rival, which online marketers are banking on to give a new lease of life to their trade.

Even though most of the influencers who spoke to the Business Daily admitted they had not fully figured out the optimal strategies to maximise their presence on the platform, they acknowledged seeing an extra way to connect with their audiences on the new app.

“There’s an extra touch point for influencers to connect with their audiences and we will be looking forward to monetisation on the platform and how we can engage, collaborate and work with brands on the Threads app,” says Eugene Tolbert, an influencer with 32,800 followers on Twitter.

He says three hope-instilling aspects that will enhance his trade have stood out on Threads, singling out, for example, the increased post length leeway that will see him type at least 500 characters on a post as opposed to Twitter where he has been limited to 280 as his account is unverified. He goes on to list the extra opportunities that he sees.

“I see a level playing field. Threads is new to all of us and there are no veterans. This has levelled the field for normal users, micro and macro influencers as well as for brands on the platform. Nobody has to grapple with the inferiority complex as happens on Twitter,” he states.

Another plus, which is a view also shared by digital marketing strategist and social media commentator Egline Samoei, is the drawing of an already existing community from Instagram and moving with it to Threads, as opposed to being compelled to start building a followership from scratch.

“Looking at the way Threads is built, it is advantageous to Instagram influencers since they are moving with the existing community from Instagram. They can easily grow their community on Threads since their followers can easily identify them as they are using the same username and bios,” opines Samoei who enjoys a support base of 9,503 followers on Twitter.

“Verified Instagram influencers are also counting gains as they get to retain their badges on Threads and this makes them easily identifiable and reduces cases of impersonations.”

For Janet Machuka, who describes herself as a thought leader and a social media marketing expert with 205,800 followers on Twitter, the anchorage of the Threads app on the Meta systems and vastness of data reach will come in handy in churning out meaningful business conversions. “Twitter influencers finally have a chance to shine on Meta. Those of them who have mastered the art of attention-grabbing and conversions will win big on this app. This is especially so for people with catchy, controversial and human interest conversations,” she says.

“Influencers who will be among the first to build their niches on the Threads app can position themselves for collaborations with brands hence it is a new money-minting avenue.”

However, for Nyandia Gachago, a digital marketing strategist with 14,600 followers on Twitter, the prospects of her expansion onto the new app are somewhat gloomy.

She sees an uphill task in monetising efforts as she laments that Twitter and Threads favour Western creators over their African counterparts.

“Monetising for us won’t be easy. Elon (Musk) has reacted as expected by creating insane monetising means for Twitter influencers, but this again doesn’t apply to the African landscape,” she says.

Billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg on July 5 launched the Threads app as a direct response to Twitter’s plan to cap daily views per user.

Meta’s new app is available in more than 100 countries, including Kenya, on the Apple and Google app stores.

Twitter has for ages ranked as the second-most-popular social media app in Kenya after Facebook. Threads is the first platform to directly take on Twitter as the latter continues to face headwinds since the takeover by billionaire Elon Musk last October last year, with users heightening criticism against the platform amid accusations of misinformation and hate speech promotion.

Upon taking over Twitter ownership, Musk introduced a raft of changes that include a new verification policy that requires users to pay subscription fees to retain their verification marks that symbolise the authenticity of accounts.

The move elicited a wave of uproar from tweeps who were opposed to the charges, with some questioning how the app would protect against impersonators who pay for a similar username that appears indistinguishable from the real person.

Musk, at the time, downplayed the concerns, terming the shift as one that took power to the people.

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