The news that Meta will be launching a Twitter rival this week will no doubt send sections of the population into a frenzy of excitement and anticipation. While others barely bat an eyelid.
It is rumoured that Threads, as the service will be known, will
be free and have none of the restrictions on tweets recently announced by Elon
Musk. It will be linked to Instagram, creating another step in the evolution of
Meta’s ecosystem.
Another new tool, another potential opportunity (leaving
aside concerns over access to personal data, which could fill a book rather than
a blog). Organisations of all types and sizes will be busy exploring how best
they can use Threads and align it with their current channels. There is plenty
of potential upside, but also risks involved. “Shiny new toy” syndrome, anyone?
The same issues are seen within organisations, where Microsoft
seems to be accelerating its own version of the Metaverse. Lots of tools being
integrated into one environment – and increasingly one user interface (with varying
levels of success, in my humble opinion). New tools and apps are available, and
changing all the time, but are they right for the company and/or for its people?
Has there been a ‘bells and whistles’ launch but less attention paid to
embedding use and addressing issues? And, in the rush to embrace what digital
tools make possible, has enough thought been given to those who simply don’t
want to or can’t engage with them?
In the coming days, plenty of people will be downloading Threads
and preparing for its launch. Many others will be left cold by the whole thing.
We should never forget that this also applies when we’re introducing anything
internally: “one size does not fit all”.
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