To Thread or Not to Thread, That Is the Question

Lab-grown meat is attracting billions of dollars in investments. More than 150 companies around the world are now working on cultured meat. Interestingly, surveys indicate that consumers’ willingness to eat the meat depends on what it’s called. Attitudes are more positive towards ‘cultured meat’ and ‘clean meat’ than descriptions using ‘lab-grown’ or ‘artificial’. However, as a person who once ate ice cream I had dropped on the floor of an ice cream shop in my younger years, I question whether I'm the most appropriate person to judge consumer safety and acceptability…

In today’s newsletter:

• Threads: The who, what, where, when, and why of this new social media app.

• Shots: Make great looking mockups and screenshots.

• Decline: New podcast launches are dipping, GPT-4 from OpenAI will be more available, and more.

DYLAN’S DOWNLOAD

Instagram Threads is here, and it’s a bit chaotic, confusing, and fun.

Since there are already a lot of social media apps available, do we really need another one?

I don’t know.

I figured it would be helpful to list a few of the current details about Threads that you may or may not be aware of…

What is Threads?

Threads is Meta’s answer to Twitter. It’s a standalone app that is focused around sharing text updates…although you can include links, photos videos, and gifs.

How do you sign up for Threads?

Download the app here, and access via your existing Instagram account.

What are the text and video limits for Threads?

Currently Threads allows posts that are up to 500 characters long and videos up to 5 minutes in length.

Who am I seeing on my feed?

Your feed on Threads includes threads posted by people you follow, and recommended content.

A couple of other things worth mentioning:

• Meta says they are making Threads compatible with open, interoperable social networks.

• Currently there are no ads on Threads. Zuckerberg says their approach is, “make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point.”

Even though it’s a brand new platform, I’ve got a few recommendations:

• If interested, play around with it. Don’t take it too seriously. The app is going to evolve and improve over time. Current features are limited.

• Historically speaking, text-update social apps (like Twitter) have a shorter feed life (length of time the content is shown in-feed) compared to platforms like YouTube or TikTok.

• There’s no right or wrong way to post. It’s what you make of it. Now is the time to throw any rules out the window about what you think you should talk about on social media, and just talk about it.

For me, I’m having fun with the app.

I’ve pretty much only posted silly memes that I’ve made.

For podcasters, I don’t think the goal right now should be “how can I get people off this app and listening to my podcast.”

I think the goal should be “how can I connect and engage with others”. And then make sure that the link in your profile is setup with who you are, what your podcast is about, and link to where people can listen.

Last thing, naturally there is some FOMO around a new social app…

Thoughts like:

“How do I do this best?”

“Do I have to be on this?”

“Should I join now or wait until it gets bigger?”

The answer is, it really depends on you.

Maybe this app is a place for you to quickly get your thoughts out to the world without having to make them "pretty" for Instagram.

Maybe this is the place for you to experiment and have fun, or to showcase your podcast in a new way.

Maybe you decide you’ll just stick to Instagram, or TikTok, or any of the other 20 social apps.

What you decide to do with the app is up to you. Just have fun with it and remember, there’s no wrong way to do it.

CREATOR ANTICS