Will the excitement for Threads translate to life sciences brands?

The launch of Meta’s Threads app on Instagram is being viewed with great anticipation and intrigue, especially after it created a buzz by reaching 100 million sign-ups within just five days of its announcement.

Touted as a strong contender to the Elon Musk-owned X – previously known as Twitter – which has long been an established name in the world of social media, the launch of Threads could not have come at a better time when the world is adjusting to the rebranding exercise.

Ever since Musk took control of the X platform in 2022, it has been mired in controversies. One such plight involved pharma giant Eli Lilly where changes to the authenticity tag ‘Twitter Blue’ dealt a significant blow to the company, knocking $15 billion off of its market cap. The event caused such disruption that Eli Lilly had to tender an apology for the fake tweet and the following fiasco.

All it took for a user was to create a fake Eli Lilly account, verify it for $8, and promise ‘free insulin’. Prior to the rule change, notable account holders were granted the blue tick for free, after a process of due diligence to ensure that the account was authentic and fight off imposter accounts. This process of authentication changed when Musk opened the blue tick option to anyone on payment of $8, a measure that cost Eli Lilly dearly.

Learning the lesson the hard way after a spike in fake accounts, Twitter suspended its $8 blue tick subscription plan, but, by then, many big pharma companies, including Merck, Pfizer, and Novartis, had seen enough to stop advertising on the platform.

• Read the full article in pharmaphorum's Deep Dive digital magazine