Remember the good ol’ days when fresh social media platforms seemed to pop up every other minute, keeping our marketer brains forever whirling? For the past five years, it’s been kind of a snooze fest, with only TikTok breaking the monotony. But out of the blue, here comes Threads, dropping in like a surprise guest at a party and sparking up all kinds of buzz.

People, especially marketers and journalists, were itching for something new, and Threads definitely scratched that itch. If the initial launch hype was to be believed, you need to shift every bit of energy you have away from Twitter and directly to Threads. 100,000,000 people started using Threads in just 5 days. Insanity.

Roughly two weeks later, traffic is down 70% on Threads, and Twitter is now called X. Insanity.

Here at Creative Energy, foodservice’s biggest advertiser, we’re pretty intrigued. We’re asking the questions we always do: What’s the engagement game going to look like on this fresh platform, and how should foodservice pros play it?

According to Instagram’s founder and the head of Threads within Meta Adam Mosseri, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Speaking on the Hard Fork podcast, they highlighted that Threads is in it for the long haul, and it might take a couple of years to fully take off. But the green light for ads? Time will tell.

“Right now, I just want to make something that people love and they use. It’s not nearly as hard to get a bunch of people to try something as it is to build something that people want to keep using over time. So that’s really the focus of the team. I don’t want to mislead anyone. We believe in ads. We think they are a way to offer free service worldwide. We think it’s a good thing. But right now, it’s just not the focus at all for the app. I think that would be the definition of a champagne problem.” -Adam Mosseri

So, should you be sprinting to start posting on Threads? Not necessarily, but turning a blind eye might not be the best move either.

We’ve been knocking around some ideas about Threads at Creative Energy recently. We’ve cooked up a few clever strategies for early adopters to snag that sweet first-mover advantage on Threads, regardless of how the long-term game pans out.

Social media can be a game-changer when it comes to interacting with other brands. And in food service, that means other brands. It’s not always easy, especially when you’re not the big-name brand everyone’s clamoring to collaborate with. But social media, and perhaps Threads, could be your secret weapon. A simple interaction on social media could open doors to meaningful relationships with potential customers.

Some of our clients who jumped on Threads early have already seen deeper interactions with their customers than on other platforms. Those seemingly small touchpoints can morph into super valuable collaborations on other channels like TikTok or Instagram. Or even better, they can evolve into real-world experiences that your customers adore or a new product you drop together.

First-mover advantage is real. And it’s been a while since there’s been a real genuine social land run. You shouldn’t follow all the hype but don’t ignore Threads just yet.

If yet another social media network feels daunting, your storytelling is feeling dull or the above thinking makes you more stressed rather than less, we should talk. Creative Energy thrives in helping our clients get up to speed and off to the races.