Pilot complete: Threads is live — the youngest channel, the most honest test

Threads was the channel in the Buust pilot where I had the least idea what would come out of it. Instagram and TikTok are established, YouTube surprised us — but Threads is only two years old, text-heavy, conversational, and nobody could tell me whether product videos even work there.

Three months later, Threads is out of the pilot and in every plan. But I am writing this post more honestly than the others, because Threads is the youngest and most experimental channel we have put live so far — and you can tell.

Who was in the pilot

A deliberate mix, because with a channel this new every assumption was just a guess:

• Three shop owners with fashion, jewelry, and lifestyle products who are already active on Instagram
• Two small manufacturers with one-of-a-kind pieces that need explaining (ceramics, hand-sewn bags)
• Two resellers with fast-changing inventory
• One bookseller with niche non-fiction
• One outdoor brand with its own community
• A small coffee roastery that has a lot to say about its craft

The most important condition: no pilot account had a lively Threads profile beforehand. We wanted to see whether Threads carries from zero — and isn't just dragged along by reach that already existed.

Lesson number one: Threads is a conversation channel, not a storefront

That was the lesson that shaped everything else. On most channels you post a video, and it lives on views. On Threads a post lives on replies.

The videos that performed best in the pilot were not the ones with the most views — they were the ones where a buyer asked a question or left a short comment underneath. Threads visibly pushes posts with conversation higher up. A silent video just sits there. A video with two or three people replying underneath takes off.

That changed how we build the Buust captions for Threads. On other channels the caption is more descriptive. For Threads we now suggest short, conversational text — more of an open remark than a product description. Threads text is capped at a short length anyway, which fits perfectly: one sentence that invites a reply beats three sentences of product info.

Lesson number two: the link works — but differently than expected

As on the other channels, Buust puts a separate, trackable link under every video that leads straight to the matching product page. The seller doesn't have to set anything up for this, and the dashboard shows per video what comes back to the shop through it.

On Threads, this link drove fewer direct clicks than on YouTube — but the clicks often came with a delay and by way of the conversation. The typical sequence in the pilot: someone replies to the video with a question, the seller (or another user) replies back, and only then does someone click the link. Threads is not a channel where people click through right away. It is a channel where they talk first and click later.

For me that was the most honest lesson of the pilot: on Threads the link is not the main thing. The main thing is that your product gets talked about at all — the link then catches the people who are already interested.

Lesson number three: young also means shaky — and we say so openly

Threads is the youngest channel we are putting live, and that comes with rougher edges than eBay or YouTube. Three things were noticeable in the pilot:

First, Threads needs a little time before a video is fully processed on its end — with longer clips, publishing occasionally took longer than on other channels. Second, the detailed per-video stats are still tied to an approval we are waiting on — until that comes through, you will sometimes see reactions only after a delay in the dashboard. Third, a Threads post once published can't be deleted again automatically through the tool; right now that only works directly in the app.

I could have kept these three points quiet. But I won't, because that is exactly the character of this channel: Threads itself is still in motion, and we are moving with it. What's bumpy today is often already smooth in three months — with a network this young, a lot changes, and that is more opportunity than risk.

What two pilot sellers said in the end

"Threads was a surprise for me. The reach is smaller than on Instagram, but the people who react mean it. I won regular customers through replies to a video — customers I didn't have before. It feels less like marketing and more like a conversation." — Ceramics studio, Leipzig

"Honestly, I didn't believe in Threads at first. What turned me around: it's the only channel where buyers tell me directly what they like about the product. That's gold for my next product descriptions — and it happens without me doing anything except replying now and then." — Outdoor brand, Freiburg

The second point was the most important finding for me. Threads doesn't deliver the most traffic. But it delivers the most honest feedback — and that is valuable in a different way than a click.

What changes now for Threads sellers

As of today, Buust for Threads is no longer a pilot feature. Every plan includes the full integration: connect your account, automatically publish new videos, short conversational captions with a suggestion, your own product link per video, scheduling, and the reactions view in the dashboard.

If you weren't part of it yet: you get three free sales videos on the Free plan, no pilot code, no waiting — and you can connect your Threads account right away too.

Connect Threads and start three free videos →

What's piloting next

The pilot funnel keeps running, just narrower. On the social side, most channels are out of the pilot now and in every plan — the only ones still in the active pilot are LinkedIn and X (Twitter). Plus Google Business as a bonus channel for local retailers.

The marketplace side is bigger: still piloting here are Amazon, Shopware 6, Etsy, Wix, OTTO Market, Kaufland, and more. Each platform has a fixed number of free spots available.

Thanks to the ten Threads pilot sellers. Your patience with the youngest, shakiest channel — the slow first publishes, the stats that aren't there yet, and my constant question "so, did anyone reply?" — turned an experiment into a real channel.