How to use Post threads

By Hayley Dorney
Solutions
a man sits in his office looking at his phone while his laptop is open on his desk

Thanks to videos, GIFs, photos, and products like Carousel Ads, there are lots of ways to express your message in a Post. But what about when you want to use more words and 280 characters aren’t enough? Or you want to update your followers in real-time as a story develops? 

This is where our friend the X thread comes in. Here, we’ve got two examples of how to thread Posts, plus we’ll share some top threads from a few of our own X accounts for inspiration. 

How to publish a Post thread

1. Click the "Post" button to compose a new Post.

screenshot of how to compose a tweet on twitter by clicking the tweet button

2. Write your first Post. Click the "Add another Postt" button and a second Post window will pop up.

3. You can publish the entire thread at the same time with the "Post all" button. You can also add a thread to a previously published Post using the same "Add another Postt" button.

screenshot of how to add another tweet to your original tweet but clicking add another tweet
 

Publishing one Post at a time vs publishing a full thread

Publishing a thread one Post at a time lets your followers feel the excitement of a developing story — perfect for a live event, product launch, or announcing a competition winner.

Publishing an entire thread at once instantly gives your followers a fully-formed story. This is a good Post format for a message you want to control a bit more, like a nuanced company announcement, as done by @XBusiness while launching a test of Professional Profiles.

screenshot of twitter business account showcasing the professional profiles launch in a tweet thread

Why Post in a thread?

To tell a story, build intrigue, or create suspense

Post threads lend themselves really well to creating intrigue and build-up to the climax of a story, or the nitty-gritty of a conversation.

When publishing one Post at a time, we recommend waiting about an hour after publishing your first Post to publish your second, and waiting another 15 minutes or so to publish your third.

This staggered format will keep bumping your message up people’s timelines, but not with so much of a time gap that they begin to lose interest. 

If you’re publishing a longer-running series or campaign with video or imagery, you can always add your next Post days after the first, too. Take @TwitterTogether and their #AlwaysProud series in celebration of Pride, for instance. 

Their first Post in the thread featured a video about a personal journey and was followed five days later by another video as part of the series. Each video could of course stand on its own, but when threaded, the message was strengthened.

Resurface or follow up a Post

Use a thread to add additional Posts to re-highlight or follow-up on previously published Posts. @XSpaces did this every couple of days to continuously highlight notable or interesting Spaces.

If you live-Posted an event with a thread, you could reply to it the next day to ask people what they thought and if they had any follow-up questions or discussion points for future events. Following up on threads shows your audience that you’re listening and actively driving the conversation with them. 

Looking for some extra inspiration now you know how to start your own X thread? Take a look at these five creative ways brands can use X threads

Additional reading: 

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