“Sociable” is the latest commentary on important social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.

Meta’s new Threads app has only been around for a week, so it’s way too early to be taking too much from the initial usage insights as an indicative measure of what you can expect.

But there are some notes available on what users are experiencing, and while usage has seemingly dipped, based on third-party analysis, the first returns look promising for brand engagement.

First off, according to a study by Website Planet, the vast majority of brands that are active on Threads are generating more likes per post in the app than they’re seeing on Twitter, with the overall average sitting at around 8x their normal tweet engagement.

As you can see, there are some big variances here, so again, it’s probably too early to take too much from this. But it does show that brand profiles are generating good engagement in the new app, which bodes well for growth and future potential.

Though this could also be part of Meta’s planning, in looking to juice post engagement early on, in order to encourage more activity. Threads also has less than half of the user base of Twitter, which means fewer people there to engage, but there’s also far less competition for attention.

Overall, there are too many factors to make any real conclusions as yet, but there are some positive indicators for brand opportunities.

World leaders are also signing up, with DigiTips reporting that 103 heads of state have activated Threads accounts thus far.

Again, this bodes well for broader adoption, and sustained interest in the app. Everything could still fall apart, no doubt, but the fact that engagement is solid, and more notable people are signing up, bodes well for its future growth potential. If Meta can get it right.

Though there are also some negative signs, with Sensor Tower reporting that engagement in the app remains relatively low.

As per Sensor Tower, time spent in the app has declined by around 60% from Threads’ initial launch highs, and as you can see from this chart, its overall user engagement is still a lot lower than the time spent on Instagram or Twitter.

So it’s still got some way to go in capitalizing on its opportunities, though the Threads team has already outlined a range of key updates coming to the app, which should help with user retention.

In summary, right now, we’re in the very early stages of the app, but the signs are mostly positive in terms of the opportunity that the Threads team now has to capitalize on its position.

User interest is high, and influential people are paying attention, which means that Threads could indeed become the next big social app, if it’s able to tap into the key elements to maximize user demand. That includes functional improvements, reach opportunities, limiting algorithmic interference, moderation, etc.

There’s a range of things that the Threads team needs to get right, but there are indicators that it could succeed, if it remains on the right track.