How to write a great thread

Let's face it—writing is hard. And it's even harder when you're in a time crunch, responding to messages, and need the space to synthesize a lot of your thoughts in order to communicate effectively with your team.

As digital-first teams, we're used to various forms of writing: perhaps a short tweet, couple paragraphs of a product proposal, long-form blog post, or something else. Different mediums call for different ways of communicating and after a while, it can definitely add up.

That's why we've introduced a new yet familiar twist on the way you communicate at work. We've taken a format that is simple yet organized, digestible yet profound.

We've made threads for work, work.

Let's first break down what a thread is —

In its simplest form, a thread is how you share insights and gain alignment. Basically, the things that chat sucks at. As a rule of thumb, if it's important and not urgent—make it a thread.

Threads are also composed of 500-character blocks —

A block is designed for points over prose. Time is precious, and threads help keep your writing short, sweet, and to-the-point.

Related — How to define a thread: what it is and how to turn it into your most powerful tool to date

Why this format? Because it works. It's the "in-between" of quick chats and long-form docs. It offers a place for structured discussion and leads to decisions. It helps save you time, and the time of your colleagues to boot.

We can admit that this format may take a bit of getting used to, but we also can admit that it's well worth it. Succinct thoughts lead to more organized discussions, leading to decisions and moving work forward. Threads is where digital teams get work done (not just let it fester). 

Here are a few rules of thumb to follow for writing a good thread:

1. Keep it structured: use text formatting like h1 or h2 headers at the top of a block as a way to break ideas apart and highlight different sections
2. Keep it succinct: limit your characters to 500 per block; this helps to break up thoughts into bite-size chunks that your teammates can easily reply to
3. Keep it simple: no fluff, just write; even better, insert gifs, memes or emojis to help get your point across
   

Think of it this way; in the physical world, when you stack blocks on top of one another, you're building something. Just like on Threads, the more blocks you add, the more you're building on an idea, proposal, or thought.

Threads are building blocks for your thoughts.