Twitter threads have become a trendy way to share ideas, stories, and commentary on the platform. Threads allow users to connect multiple tweets into one more extended narrative, expanding beyond the 280-character limit for individual tweets.
There are many creative uses and benefits Uses of Twitter Threads. In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore how Twitter threads are utilized.
Table of Contents
What are Twitter Threads?
A Twitter thread is a series of connected tweets from one user. It starts with an initial tweet, followed by replies to that tweet, which create a cohesive narrative or thought stream. The replies are connected on the platform, allowing readers to easily follow the entire thread by clicking on the initial tweet.
Threads allow creators to share more complex stories and detailed information than is possible in a single tweet. A thread can be any length – some are just a few tweets, while others extend to hundreds of tweets or more.
Twitter officially rolled out the threading feature in 2017, but creative users had already been manually connecting their tweets by replying to themselves before that.
Also read: How to Create a Twitter Thread
How Twitter Threads Work
To create a thread, compose your first tweet as usual. Then, when crafting your follow-up tweets, reply to your original tweet rather than writing an entirely new one. The replies will appear underneath the initial tweet in a line connected by a line.
When reading a thread, you only have to click on the original tweet and the entire thread will be revealed under it, with the replies in chronological order. This allows you to read a long thread without clicking through each tweet separately.
Threads function like normal tweets – you can retweet, like, and reply to individual tweets within a thread or the original tweet. This allows you to interact with interesting threads and draw more users into reading them.
Benefits of Twitter Threads
There are many advantages to using threaded tweets rather than individual tweets to share your thoughts and stories.
1. Share Longer Content
The 140-character limit was notoriously restrictive for the platform. Even after it was expanded to 280 characters, it still needs longer to express complex ideas. Threads allow you to get around these limits and share much more content.
There’s no limit to how long your thread can be, so that you can share extensive stories, detailed commentary, or in-depth analyses through a tweet thread.
2. Improved Readability
Reading a series of connected tweets is much easier to follow than separate tweets, even if they are by the same user.
A thread reads like an article, smoothly guiding the reader through the narrative without the disjointedness of individual tweets.
3. Increased Engagement
Threaded tweets tend to garner more engagement than standalone tweets. Creating anticipation through an intriguing opening tweet drives more users to click through the thread to read your entire thought.
This leads to more likes, retweets, and replies as readers interact with an engaging thread.
4. Viral Potential
Compelling threads frequently go viral on the platform as users rapidly retweet them. The viral nature allows threads to reach and resonate with a much larger audience than individual tweets.
A viral thread can quickly expose your thoughts and ideas to millions of new readers.
5. Brand Building
Threads are an exceptional tool for building your personal brand and establishing yourself as an expert. By regularly sharing valuable insights and commentary through threaded tweets, you can organically grow your follower count and influence.
Types of Twitter Threads
Twitter threads are used for an incredibly diverse range of content types and purposes. Here are some of the most popular ways threads are utilized on the platform:
Storytelling
One of the most common uses of threads is to tell stories. The expanded space allows you to share anecdotes, experiences, eyewitness accounts, and all stories with added nuance and complexity. These narrative threads captivate readers when done well.
Commentary & Analysis
Threads allow users to dive deep into commentary and analysis on any subject. They offer space to unpack complex issues, share informed opinions, provide context, and offer new perspectives through detailed threads.
Reporting
Active reporting happens through Twitter threads, with users sharing updates in real-time as news unfolds. Extensive threads allow reporters to provide live updates from protest events, natural disasters, political developments, and more.
Interviews
Users leverage threads to conduct and share interviews with experts, eyewitnesses to events, politicians, celebrities, and a vast range of fascinating people. The threads mimic an interview format, generating insights through a public back and forth.
Educational Content
Informative threaded tweets educate audiences on a limitless array of topics. Teachers, experts, and thought leaders across all fields use threads to enlighten others through detailed educational content.
Humor/Entertainment
Comedians, creators, and humorists craft entertaining, threaded content to make audiences laugh and delight them. Everything from joke threads to satirical commentary engages audiences through sheer entertainment value.
Customer Service
Brands frequently use threads to respond to customer complaints and questions publicly. This allows transparency in how they handle issues. Direct product feedback is also shared through public threads.
Promotion/Marketing
Threads allow brands, creators, influencers, and public figures to market themselves and promote their work. This promotes engagement from target audiences. Promotional threads drive traffic to websites, products or campaigns.
Public Debate
Twitter threads often host heated public debates as users debate controversial issues through duelling threads. These threaded discussions center around politics, social issues, pop culture fan wars, and more.
Crowdsourcing
Users leverage threads to crowdsource information, opinions, recommendations, and ideas from the wider Twitter audience. The collected tweets provide diverse insights from the crowd.
Daily Journals/Diaries
Some individuals use threaded tweets as public diaries to share daily updates and reflections. These journal threads chronicle their lives, thoughts, feelings and activities.
Illustrative Content
Eye-catching visual threads stand out in users’ feeds, pairing text commentary with photos, graphics, videos, and GIFs. These visually engaging threads draw attention.
Best Practices for Threading
Crafting compelling Twitter threads takes skill and practice. Here are some best practices to optimize your threaded tweets:
Attention Grabbing Opening
Hook readers immediately with a first tweet that teases an exciting, funny, or intriguing narrative. You want to generate enough interest so users click through.
Find Your Voice
Twitter’s informal nature lends itself to expressing your unique personality and voice. Threads that feel genuine and convey emotion tend to resonate most.
Tell a Full Story
A disjointed thread that lacks narrative cohesion will quickly lose readers. Carefully plot your thread to convey a complete concept or story from start to finish.
Edit Ruthlessly
Be concise and cut unnecessary sentences to keep threads tight. Wanderings and weak points that don’t advance the thread should be edited.
Use Media Thoughtfully
Enhance your threads with relevant photos, videos, and graphics. But use them intentionally in spots where they make the most visual impact.
Interact With Replies
Stay engaged with those who reply to your threads through likes, retweets and replies of your own. This drives deeper conversation and community.
Promote Your Threads
Get added mileage from your efforts by promoting your threads through other social channels, websites, email subscribers, etc.
Thread Regularity
Consistently share great threads to build anticipation among your followers. But don’t force it if inspiration isn’t striking on a given day.
Check For Typos/Errors
Reread your full thread before posting to check for distracting typos or errors undermining your message.
Twitter’s Thread Culture
The vibrant culture around threading on Twitter has given rise to popular terms and conventions among users. Understanding the terminology and norms can help you fit right in.
Tweetstorm
A tweetstorm is an exceptionally long thread spanning dozens or hundreds of tweets. Kevin Roose’s marathon 300+ tweet novel, tweeted solely through threads, helped popularize the term.
Thread Reader
This is the popular shorthand for threadreaderapp.com, a website that compiles Twitter threads into more easily readable formats. Users frequently link to Thread Reader versions of threads.
Unroll Please
When asking another user to post a Thread Reader link for a thread, it’s common to say, “Unroll, please!” This saves others from having to search for the compiled thread.
1/
The convention of starting a thread with “1/” arose to signal a thread’s launch and indicate more tweets are coming. This helps prep readers to click through.
Dot Convention
Some threads use periods to connect the tweets visually and make the thread cohesive when reading without clicking through. This device replaces the lines Twitter inserts.
Cover Art
Artistically designed cover photos are frequently added to the opening tweet of threads as visual flair. The art entices profile visitors to click and read the thread.
Thread Games
Interactive, game-style threads invite collective storytelling by users. Participants add sentences, lines of dialogue, poem verses, etc., to build out creative stories collectively.
Thread Recs
Users boost threads by tweeting recommendations of exceptional threads they’ve enjoyed using phrases like “Thread you should read,” driving more readers to click.
Unroll Sites
Sites like Thread Reader, Unroll Thread, etc., that compile threads are constantly shared so users can read them without clicking through. Some prefer this convenience.
Impactful Examples of Viral Threads
Examining examples of wildly viral threads can inspire ways threads can attract huge audiences. Here are some of the most retweeted threads in Twitter history:
Japanese Etiquette Thread
A Japanese woman living in NYC shared an extensive thread in 2017 explaining amusing cultural differences she noticed after moving from Japan to the States. Her insightful 117-tweet thread offered a fascinating look at relatable everyday etiquette and norms we take for granted. It quickly went globally viral.
Adena Halpern’s Relationship Thread
In 2018, writer Adena Halpern composed a 31-tweet thread sharing the beautiful love story of how she ended up marrying a man she initially turned down for a date. Her heartfelt and humorous tale resonated strongly with readers, earning over 71,000 retweets.
Conversations With My 2-Year-Old
Comedian Matthew Clarke tweets ongoing imagined conversations with his witty 2-year-old daughter Tabitha. His hilarious threads capturing Tabitha’s innocent yet sassy reactions to everyday life events have become viral, retweeted over 150,000 times.
Kid At Wedding Running Commentary
A brother live-tweeted his funny younger brother’s blunt reactions to events at a wedding they attended in 2018. Tweets like “Why does that man need two wives?” and “I’m going to bust that piñata until all the candy falls out” had users cracking up at the unique perspective.
An Ode to Duolingo Owl
Comedian Jaboukie Young-White composed a playful 123 tweet ode thread to Duolingo’s mascot Duo the Owl for demanding users stay on track with language lessons. Jaboukie personified Duo as a needy, clingy partner, begging: “Where are you? I miss you.” The charming thread earned 330,000 likes.
Eric Garland Gin Rant
Political pundit Eric Garland went on an exquisitely bizarre 168-tweet overnight rant in 2017 while drinking gin that covered topics ranging from Russian history to Ross Perot. Despite the incoherence, Garland’s loopy lyrical monologue gained meme status and 77,000 retweets.
Ziwe Interviews Alison Roman
In 2020, comedian Ziwe Fumudoh live-tweeted a fake “interview” with then-disgraced chef Alison Roman by replying to her tweets. Roman had just gone viral for insulting Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo. Ziwe’s satirical interrogations like “Why are you so obsessed with Asian women?” skewered Alison Roman’s behaviour with too much fanfare.
Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s Cell Phone Prank
Writer Daniel Mallory Ortberg shared the escalating saga after his husband Paul set his cellphone wallpaper to a stock photo of a raw chicken in 2020. Daniel’s uproarious thread of the prank war that ensued as they kept changing the wallpaper to disturb each other accumulated over 100,000 likes.
Kurt Eichenwald’s Heart Attack Thread
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald’s shocking 2017 thread about suddenly going into convulsions from a heart attack on live TV during an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight alerted the public and saved his life. Paramedics arrived quickly, thanks to his real-time medical emergency updates.
David Slack’s Covid Lockdown Thread
New Zealand-based writer David Slack tweeted a beautifully moving 77-part thread chronicling the gradual reopening of life and human connections as the nation recovered from Covid lockdowns in late 2020. The cathartic thread perfectly encapsulated the global moment.
Live-tweeting Obama’s Speech
When Obama made his important ‘A More Perfect Union’ speech addressing controversial comments by Reverend Wright in 2008, journalist Mike Madden live-tweeted the entire event as it unfolded. This real-time documentation provided instant context and analysis for those unable to watch live. The accessibility and commentary allowed this historical speech to spread further.
News and Developments
Here are some recent news stories and developments related to Twitter threads:
- Twitter is testing a new “Continue Thread” button to make reading long threads easier by letting you advance to the following tweet without needing to click back to the previous tweet each time. The feature aims to improve convenience in consuming threads.
- Third-party services like Thread Reader App, Thread Unroller, and Unroll Thread have exploded in popularity to convert Twitter threads into more readable blog formats for those who prefer to read them that way.
- Social journalism around significant events increasingly assumes the form of live tweeting in extended threads vs discrete articles as users demand instant updates. This was seen during the January 6th Capitol insurrection and Ukranian war coverage.
- Iconic serial threaded stories have emerged with authors regularly advancing plotlines solely through creative threads vs traditional outlets. Examples include Kurt Vonnegut fan Asta Wilbur’s “556 Thread Space Opera” and the political thriller “Gabriel’s Promise” by Anita Anand, which she threads daily.
- Twitter launched the “Twitter Moments” feature in 2016, curating tweets into organized linear stories. This succeeded in better surfacing the best discussion threads, though users haven’t widely adopted the feature.
- Notable figures across fields known for viral threads include writers like Daniel Silvermint, Eric Garland, and Anand Giridharadas, authors like Roxane Gay and Shea Serrano, comedians like Tim Siedell, and activists like Amy Siskind, among countless others.
- Recurring threaded “games” have flourished as viral collective storytelling vehicles. Examples include the popular “Two Sentence Horror Stories” thread, during which users take turns crafting frightening micro tales by contributing two sentences each.
- Hashtags indicating threaded stories are frequently utilized so users can easily find participate in the collective narrative. The popular improvised story hashtag #CreateYourEnding threads invite users to build a communal, interactive story.
Conclusion
Twitter threads have transformed how we craft narratives, sparking creativity with the expanded canvas for storytelling and commentary. As evidenced by the incredible diversity of viral threads analyzed here, these interconnected tweets convey every facet of the human experience.
For brands, influencers, artists, experts, activists, journalists, and individuals alike, threads present exciting opportunities to build audiences, engage communities, and drive impact. With practice and optimization, anyone can leverage the power and reach of Twitter threads.
