Breaking Down the Differences Between Meta’s Three Big Platforms

It was a big deal when Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, and the social media landscape hasn’t been the same since. The company broke further ground in 2016 with the advent of Instagram Stories, the answer to what was then dominating the disappearing video platform: Snapchat. Facebook, now Meta, has come out swinging at its other competitors, as well. Last year, Meta launched Threads, the text-based app that looks an awful lot like X (formerly Twitter). Today, with these three different but connected platforms, Meta is the bulk of the social media landscape. Let’s take a look at what each one does best, and why it is in your company’s best interests to have a profile on all three.

Facebook

Created in 2004, this juggernaut now has more than 3 billion users. It has been through many iterations, but it is still a must-have for company online presences. Users can easily share links, videos, photos and text-based posts with their followers. One of its biggest assets for companies is its advertising platform. Any company page can promote, or sponsor, a post to its followers and, outside of a following, to an extremely targeted demographic.

Instagram

Instagram is now bifurcated into two things: the static profile page (or “grid”) and Stories. Stories show up at the top of your feed and allow you to watch videos posted by the accounts you follow, and under that is the feed you scroll, now containing a mix of photos and videos. Companies can advertise here as well, although they must have a Facebook company page in order to do so. Because of this connectivity, users can enjoy the same kind of targeted advertising on Instagram.

Threads

Threads was launched in 2023 to shockingly high results, with more than 70 million adopting users in the first 48 hours. How did the platform grow that quickly? With a lot of help from Instagram. The day it started, all Instagram users were nudged toward starting a Threads account, and Meta made it as easy as possible by automatically migrating username, bio and other user information from Instagram to Threads. It’s been a worthy competitor to X ever since, although some changes are still needed.

Connectivity

As mentioned, you can’t advertise on Instagram without being connected to Facebook. And for every existing Threads account, there is an Instagram account with the same username. You literally cannot create a Threads account without first having Instagram. While this may sound like a hassle, it has its advantages. If you post to Instagram, you can scroll down to an option that allows you to automatically post identical content to your Facebook company page and your Threads account. This kind of integration is great for live events and other posts on-the-go and helps you reach three different audiences at once.

Is Meta a Monopoly?

While there are advantages for users, there are also, of course, disadvantages for the free market. Because of Meta’s purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp, the Federal Trade Commission has raised questions about whether or not Meta has acquired monopoly power. Meta sought to have the FTC’s lawsuit to this effect dismissed but failed. A trial date has yet to be set, so a resolution to this question is still pending. There is a lot happening in Meta’s world these days. I will stay on top of future developments and share them with you here!