Facebook ex backs new Australian communications app Thred
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Thred CEO Chris Adams: "I just saw the potential immediately. When you know, you know." Jessica Hromas
by Yolanda Redrup
Former Facebook insider and Silicon Valley native Chris Adams is hoping he's got his hands on the next big thing in social media – a new social media app called Thred that brings all your communications and contacts on to one platform, which has been founded by a group of Australians and is due to launch this week.
Mr Adams, who worked as a consultant with Facebook in its early years to launch video on to the network in 2006, is now an executive director of the ASX-listed app startup and says he got the same feeling with Thred as he did when he started working with Facebook.
"I just saw the potential immediately. When you know, you know," he told
The Australian Financial Review.
"Everyone has too many contacts, we use too many apps and at the moment we have to go between search engines, messaging and apps like Uber. It's too messy and it's an obvious problem that everyone has that we're solving ubiquitously."
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Facebook has come a long way since Chris Adams' days when it was located two floors above a pizza shop. Spencer Lowell for The New York Times
The app aggregates a user's messaging, email, social media and commerce apps into one platform, allowing people to manage their communications from one place and also communicate to Facebook or Twitter contacts without needing a phone number.
When a message is sent to someone using Thred, they will be able to receive it without needing to download the app, but Mr Adams believes it will prompt rapid user growth as more and more people will find out about the platform.
At this stage Thred is integrated with all the major social networks. In the coming months it intends to rapidly expand and add integrations with platforms like Uber and restaurant booking and food-ordering websites or apps. This will allow users to do everything from one app without needing to jump between platforms.
If the user is looking for a place to go with friends for dinner, they will be able to look up a restaurant using Thred's in-built search functionality, book the restaurant and then order the Uber from the one app, as well as messaging their friends.
Mr Adams, who remains good friends with his former Facebook colleagues such as the social network's vice president of partnerships Dan Rose, and worked closely with Mark Zuckerberg when Facebook's head office was two floors above a pizza shop, said unlike companies such as Snapchat and Twitter, the company has built in a revenue generation plan from the outset.
"This is our shareholders' money and we have a responsibility to spend it wisely against measurable metrics. We don't have a choice but to think about it that way," he said.
"There are a lot of ways Thred will make money. Loosely speaking, there will be commissions on transactions made through Thred and down the track there will be advertising. We've thought about how to make money from the first line of code, but we want it to be intuitive."
Last week Street Talk revealed that
Thred was poised to close a fresh capital raise and it announced on Wednesday that it had raised $3.5 million at 2.7¢ a share. Thred last closed at 3.3¢ and in its half-year results recorded revenue of $6708.
Future of Facebook
While Thred is focused on aggregating messaging, Mr Adams believes the future of Facebook will be less about communication and more about original content creation.
He tipped that Mr Zuckerberg would be weighing up a number of small acquisitions or making one large bet and buying a traditional business such as Time Warner.
"Facebook can't build everything, but they do keep their eye to the ground to see what's coming next. They watch and they're curious," he said.
"If you have the largest audience in the world, then why wouldn't you try and add more value, be it in movies, documentaries, cartoons, sport or other premium content. If they do it, it will be in a Facebook-ish way. It would be easy for them to buy Time Warner, but it could also be a disaster for them if it changes the nature of Facebook and doesn't feel natural."
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