Will Threads be the next social media app for recruiters?

Out with the old and in with the new, or as the memers say: Friendship ended with recruiting on TikTok; now, Threads is my new social-media recruiting best friend.

Threads has made a splash in the social media landscape. Meta’s new social media app, which aims to rival Twitter, surpassed 30 million downloads the day it launched, according to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Social media platforms have long reshaped the way people do things, and HR teams and recruiters are no exception. With a launch far more successful than Zuck’s Metaverse, talent acquisition pros and recruiters might be wondering if Threads might impact how they source.

“There is not a place that I won’t look, and that is exactly why I signed up for it,” said Rachel Cupples, a senior recruiter for the software company Textio. “I’m on almost every app, and why not? I’m a recruiter.”

It might be easier for job-seekers using the nascent platform to gain the attention of recruiters, according to Bloomberg, but communication between candidates and recruiters is currently pretty limited.

“I think there is potential for recruiters to be active on Threads. It’s going to probably take a while,” said Jack Kelly, founder and CEO of the recruiting firm Compliance Search Group. “It could be a LinkedIn, but geared for more the creative types, because that seems to be the vast majority of people on Threads.”

Cupples agreed. She’s looking for a graphic designer, and Threads is a tool in her sourcing toolbox for it, though she noted Meta’s answer to Twitter is lacking in some features, among them searching hashtags.

“There was no way to search hashtags,” she said. “I’m continuing to use them on there, in hopes that that’s something they incorporate in the future.”

For professional networking and career development, LinkedIn still reigns supreme; the platform for professionals boasts 930 million users and its hiring platform allows recruiters access to 52 million job-seekers.

“LinkedIn just dominates,” Kelly said. “LinkedIn, that’s not even a 100-pound gorilla, it’s like a 500-pound gorilla that just makes it so easy to find candidates for recruiters.”