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- From Dear Algorithm to Quantity vs. Quality
From Dear Algorithm to Quantity vs. Quality
Your Threads Questions, Answered
Welcome, Thriend, to the first edition of HTWT!
This letter is all about actionable tips and tricks to grow your account.
So let’s not fuck around.
THREADS NEWS 🗞️
TLDR:
On October 27, Adam Mosseri (head of IG — in case you didn’t already know!) said a Threads API is in the works.
WTF is an API? An API allows two apps to work together and share stuff they need (thanks, GPT).
Mosseri expressed concern about releasing an API because it could allow publishers to post a bunch of content and ultimately overshadow creator (our) content. 😬
Why you should care:
Mosseri has a point, but that’s only one side of the story.
The other side is this: a Threads API will enable developers to create third-party tools (like scheduling).
Think Tweet Hunter, but for Threads.
These tools won’t be for everyone. But for people like us who wanna grow their accounts, they’ll mean less effort and more results. Sign me up!
TLDR:
A few weeks ago, Meta started cross-posting Threads users’ posts to FB and IG feeds.
e.g.
The general consensus on the update? Not good. Why?
Many saw it as a cheap growth tactic from Meta.
Some people didn’t like the fact that your posts could be re-shared to your FB an IG friends.
A few days ago, it was reported that Meta is working on a new privacy setting that would let us opt out of having our posts cross-shared.
The unreleased setting was spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a on Twitter). 👀
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Why you should care:
I’m not the biggest fan of Meta assuming we want our stuff cross-posted. An opt-in would be better.
However, having the option to disable the cross-posting is better than not, so I say this is a win!
TOOLS & TESTS 🛠️
Tool: Interweave
What is it?
At its core, Interweave gives you data about your Threads.
As I like to say, more data means less drama.
Instead of letting emotions get involved, focus on the numbers. They don’t lie.
I could provide an in-depth written explanation of what exactly Interweave does. But a picture paints a thousand words.
So, check out the following screenshots of my Interweave dashboard:
What this can do for you
You’ve probably got a good idea of how powerful this tool is based on the screenshots.
That being said, here are three things I’ve found extremely useful about Interweave:
I can easily track my account’s growth.
(It’s how I got the ‘Number of thriends this time last week’ below).
I can see my most used words.
Good results on Threads come down to using good words.
If I’m happy with my results, I’ll continue using the same keywords (and vice versa).
Interweave shows me what those keywords are.
I can see my follower growth by time of day.
As you can see in the screenshot, I got the best results on Mondays and the worst results on Tuesdays (despite having the same posting schedule over both days).
This means, that if I want to get the best bang for my buck, I should post more on Mondays and less on Tuesdays. Data!
Huge shoutout to @lucaspuskaric for building Interweave. I can’t wait to watch it grow!
Test: My Threads Experiment
I did a Threads experiment.
With the exception of posting consistently and replying to all comments, I did nothing else but the following:
Week 1: like comments on other posts
Week 2: comment on other posts
Week 3: follow other accounts
I then calculated the conversion rate of likes, comments, and follows to followers gained at the end of each week.
I did this when my account was at around 200 followers, so there wasn't much of a 'snowball' effect in followers that some big accounts see as they get bigger.
Check out the results here.
(They inform my tip of the week below 👇)
ACCOUNT GROWTH 📈
Number of thriends this time last week (02/11/23): 876
Number of thriends today (09/11/23): 1,245
Goal for next week (16/11/23): 1,500
MY TOP 3 THREADS OF THE WEEK 👍
(as of 09/11/23)
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Key Takeaways
Each post:
Talks about how good Threads is.
Has an assertive and confident tone.
e.g. ‘It’s confirmed’, ‘Threads is the place to be’, ‘The people on Threads are better’, ‘That is all’.
Is short.
The average character length of those three posts is ≈ 100.
MY BOTTOM 3 THREADS OF THE WEEK 👎
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Key Takeaways
I’m still figuring out polls 😂
While the ‘Hypothetically speaking…’ post didn’t ‘perform’, it helped me outline this letter! Huge shoutout to these Thriends for your input:
@sarahlouiseanderson (for female business owners);
@allaboutpotter (for writing);
@mark_r_vickers (for writing and HR);
@brandpowr.co (for branding and design tips); and
@mario.zisiadis (for big ideas, people and tech).
One theory I have about the poor performance of the ‘Hypothetically speaking…’ post: the second sentence was two lines long.
If you look at my best posts of the week, the longest sentence was just over one line! Food for thought.
I didn’t expect the screenshot one to do well. The purpose of it was to create some suspense and mystery about the launch of this newsletter. 😎
