Threads’ Instagram Integration Solves Social Media Platforms’ ‘Cold Start’ Problem

Meta's Threads have done something other social media platforms couldn't.

Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian said in a recent video that Threads was able to have such a successful launch thanks to its Instagram integration solving the "cold start problem" social media platforms have.

Threads technically serve as a branch of Instagram due to its integration with the social media platform; it functions just like Twitter on the premise that people can share thoughts through texts.

Threads' 'Cold Start' Solution

Meta and its owner, Mark Zuckerberg, are having the time of their life. According to 9to5Mac, Threads has managed to acquire almost 100 million users in just four days after Meta launched it on July 6, which include celebrities like Gordon Ramsay, Jennifer Lopez, and Michael Le, per The Verge.

Many big companies, such as Apple, M&M, Ziploc, and Reese's, have also opened verified accounts on Threads, adding to the microblogging platform's list of users and the app's popularity. Thanks to these people setting up shop in Threads, many content creators can join the fun and move there.

Meta's achievements through its launch of Threads highlight something other social media companies don't have: a solution to the problem of reaching a "critical mass" of users after its launch.

According to Ohanian, in a video posted to Threads on July 7, creators on established social media platforms have doubts about moving from one platform to another after creating a following for themselves there. However, many creators aren't afraid of moving to Threads because of one thing: its Instagram integration.

You may remember that Instagram is powering (integrated into) Threads, allowing Instagram users to sign up for Threads easily. It allows Instagram users to send a follow request on Threads to all their friends on Instagram or follow them manually. This ease of transition from Instagram to Threads helps content creators move to Threads since they don't have to work hard to establish themselves on the newly released microblogging platform.

"If there's no audience, it's hard to get the creators - a chicken-egg problem," Ohanian said. "Now, Instagram has the audience and has the creators."

"Overnight, it was able to onboard a bunch of people who have an incentive to now create content on Threads because they have a following on Instagram, and some portion of those followers is going to come over to this other platform; they're gonna see the notifications, they're gonna want to try it out," Ohanian added.

Sarah Oh, a former human rights advisor at Twitter and co-founder of the fledgling Twitter alternative, T2, agreed with Ohanian's explanation in an emailed statement to Business Insider. According to Oh's statement, Meta successfully leveraged Instagram;'s user base and made it easy to connect the accounts content creators already follow.

It also helps that Elon Musk's changes to Twitter disillusioned its users to jump ship and seek alternatives to it.

A Social Media Monopoly?

While Threads' success is shocking, it is still from Meta - a company that thrives in collecting large amounts of data through its social media platforms, and Threads is no different. Critics have already pointed to the large amounts of data Meta is collecting through Threads and a bug preventing users from deleting their Threads accounts without affecting their Instagram accounts too.

The criticism against Threads isn't enough to slow people's adoption of the newly launched platform, and its similarities to Twitter aren't helping critics' case.

According to the CBC, Threads users are giving away users' information about purchases, location, contacts, "financial info," health and fitness, and browsing and search history. It also acquires users' "sensitive information, such as race, sexual orientation, and religion - the same information Instagram collects from them.