Twitter has some new competition with the arrival of its much more friendly and attractive younger sister – Threads. Consumers and advertisers have seen a wide array of changes take place on Twitter since Billionaire investor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased it for $40 Billion. With plans to eventually do a Twitter subscription service, flipping its advertiser-dependent business model upside down, consumers can now pay for an upgraded user experience, infinite scrolling, and account verification (the much-coveted blue check marks). Moreover, since Musk’s Twitter takeover, Twitter users began to feel that the atmosphere had changed greatly on the platform. Many of these changes in platform culture resulted from the massive layoffs of a third of the Twitter workforce and the closing down of the content moderation team. Needless to say, Twitter became a land of no rules with all forms of free speech – good, bad, and ugly. So, what does this mean for MC&I (Multicultural & Inclusive) consumers?
Since Musk’s Twitter takeover, researchers and analysts have found that there has been a significant increase in hate speech on the platform against Hispanic, Jewish, Black, Asian, LGBTQ+, and other segments. Several Twitter users have called this out, but it seems that not much has been done to solve this recurrent issue. With the introduction of Threads, which was launched last week by Meta, Threads promises users a more positive experience. This new platform will focus on showing consumers uplifting and happy content rather than politics, news, and negative conversations. Threads is directly connected to a user’s Instagram account. Therefore, Threads users may be less inclined to participate in online bullying or harassment of others since they will not be able to hide behind a fake username. Hopefully, this kind of user transparency will create a safe space for all, encouraging respect for diversity and inclusion of other cultures.
According to Pew Research Center, 20 percent of Twitter users are Hispanic, 24 percent are White, and 26 percent are Black. There have been more than 100 million sign-ups since Threads’ debut last week, and we have yet to see how many MC&I consumers migrate from Twitter to Threads.
The experts in Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Research and Strategy at Santiago Solutions Group (SSG) can help you and your business to prepare to target the new Threads audience. With proper research and cultural/inclusive knowledge, your brand will be better equipped to engage and build trust with Multicultural and Inclusive consumers.
Sources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/?tabId=tab-b14b718d-7ab6-46f4-b447-0abd510f4180
https://www.wired.com/story/latinx-twitter/#:~:text=Twenty%20percent%20of%20the%20people,to%20the%20Pew%20Research%20Center
https://wearemitu.com/wearemitu/news/twitter-latinos-threads/