Unless you live under a rock you’ve probably wondered if Threads is worth your time.

So today I'll share my thoughts on the ‘Twitter Killer’ and how you can survive the barrage of conflicting advice.

This one’s a 6-minute read.

Let’s dive in.

First off.

You can’t decide about Threads, or any new project, without answering what’s nice vs necessary as a writer.

Necessary is what you need to build a successful business.

Nice is what you might use to scale it.

There're 3 needle movers to nail down:

• Reach. Your ability to connect with future customers
• Relationships. How much those people trust you
• Revenue. How much they’ll pay you

Reach

Reach can be organic (audience building) or inorganic (paid ads).

An audience is your best asset so I’m bullish on building it early.

What I’m not bullish on is the belief you need multiple to succeed. Spread too thin too early and you'll suffer. Social media is a distraction disguised as an opportunity.

Relationships

Reach is pointless if your audience doesn't like you. You need a trust-building mechanism.

A newsletter is powerful for two reasons.

First, you demonstrate your energy and expertise in a topic (becoming a thought leader).

Second, it's personal.

Social media is superficial - you only show your polished side. But email is second-date territory. You can relax a little and let your quirks shine through.

Because the creator business is the relationship business, you need an authority asset too. These show you're serious about helping your audience win.

Revenue

This might sound obvious. But so many people, myself included, worry about how they’ll make money online yet have nothing to offer.

I wish someone slapped Kieran Drew Circa 2 years ago with this statement:

You need to build something and then you need to sell it.

Pick a person, save them time, make them money, and help them succeed.

But note.

It’s better to have one smash hit offer than 5 average ones. You can’t out-market a shitty product.

This leads us to the next point.

Chase nice and you finish last

If you assess reach, relationships, and revenue you should be able to pick a goal based on your bottleneck.

If you need money, prioritize the offer. If you want scale, add more reach.

But before you dive into nice, there're two more steps.

Optimizing and systemising.

Entrepreneurs celebrate speed but it shouldn't come at the cost of execution.

Optimizing is about getting the best bang for your buck.

Systemising is about making the process effortless.

For example.

Optimizing reach is what you say and who you say it to. If you follow data you’ll realise certain topics perform 5-10x better. Hit these from every angle. Systemising is building a content system to make it easier the more you write.

This is called the flywheel effect.

Take a look at Justin Welsh to see it in action.

Optimizing revenue is about building an irresistible offer.

It takes time. You need to work with current customers and improve your content.

You can then systemise the sales by writing and refining email sequences. Now when you write content you can guarantee a certain % of revenue per impression.

Knowing your numbers is a serious advantage.

Pouring gasoline on the fire

The 3 components are a cog in a bigger machine. Set them up right and whatever you do next has an exponential result.

Add another social media channel - more eyeballs to your newsletter, more fans and more money.

Start a podcast - better relationships, fans spread your content, more trust means more buyers.

Build a new offer - more revenue, better investments, better relationships with buyers.

But if you set them up poorly then you're constantly chasing linear results my friend.

You might feel more productive because you're busy, but it comes at the cost of later compounding.

And compounding is everything.

So what about Threads?

Hopefully now you can tell me.

But I promised my thoughts - so here goes.

The problem with social media is it’s just an extension of human nature. And boy are we predictable. Whilst I’m not saying I’m anti-Threads, the pull you feel is entirely engineered.

By letting people transfer their audience from Instagram you have incentive-based behaviour. This leads to authority bias and social proof.

The result?

Fear of missing out.

Big time.

I see people say that Zuckerberg never fails.

But they never mention Poke, Riff, Facebook Questions, or Bonfire (h/t Jodie Cook).

It's survivorship bias.

Your best bet is to ignore everyone’s opinion (I appreciate the irony) because most people have no clue what they’re talking about, or they just rehash what they heard.

The one thing you do know is your business.

Do you need more reach?

Do you have the time?

If so, great.

Musk and Zuckerberg going head to head is like being the hot girl in class and having two guys fight over you. Enjoy it. Competition leads to innovation.

Twitter should improve.

Threads might take off.

But remember, all of the benefits of social media come from compounding. Every platform is a 3-5 year project.

So don't get pulled in by hype alone.