Category Archives: Threads

Threads Is Testing The Option To Choose Your Own Default Mode

Threads

Threads will now let users decide what feed they want as their default when opening the app. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news in a post, saying that you’ll be able to choose between For You, Following, or any custom feed that you’ve set up. Zuckerburg’s post notes that Threads is “testing” this option and will also make different feeds “more visible” in the app, The Verge reported.

It took over a year to get here, but Threads is finally doing the obvious thing and allowing people to use the app however they prefer. Hopefully this test expands to all users before long.

Increased competition from Bluesky has sparked many recent improvements to Threads, including a reworking the For You algorithm to focus on accounts you actually follow and less on suggested content. The service’s search feature is also being overhauled to be more useful. Oh, and there’s landscape video now, too.

Competition truly works wonders.

Engadget reported Meta’s Threads is pushing out another test that could address a major long-running complaint about the service. The company is experimenting with allowing users to set the non-algorithmic “following” feed as the default, Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post.

The change, according to Zuckerberg, will allow users to select any feed as their default, including the newly announced custom feeds. But longtime Threads users will likely to be relieved to finally have the ability to make “following” their default view.

Up until now, Meta has pushed users to its “for you” algorithmic feed, which has long been criticized for its problems with engagement bait and its uncanny ability to push a mix of bizarre posts from strangers to the top of users’ feeds.

As part of the test, Meta will also make the ability to change your feed “more visible” in the app. Zuckerberg didn’t share how many users it might take for the feature to become official. “Interested to see how and if people use this,” he wrote.

Mashable reported Bluesky, the formerly Jack Dorsey-affiliated, decentralized answer to Elon Musk’s X, is closing the gap with Threads at breakneck speed. The browser version of Bluesky surpassed Threads in total usage weeks ago, but now the Bluesky app has exploded to 3.5 million daily active users, putting it just 1.5 times behind Meta’s Threads — an impressive feat considering the Threads app had 5X Bluesky’s active users at the start of the month.

Why Bluesky over Threads? Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to downplay political content on Threads appears to have turned off many users seeking vibrant public discourse. Critics see it as an attempt to stay in President-elect Donald Trump’s good graces, effectively neutering the platform’s potential as a forum for political and cultural debate.

In my opinion, it is a good idea for the various social media sites to start a competition with each other. It will be interesting to see how many users make the switch from the service they are using now to one they want to try out.

Threads Is Overhauling Its Search And Trending Features

Threads

Meta is promising “long-overdue improvements” to its X competitor, Threads, including more precise search features and expanded trending topics. The Verge reported.

First, users will be able to search for posts within a specific date range or from a single account — similar to what X’s search allows. Threads is also testing a new trending page in the US that includes additional topics to follow as well as AI-generated summaries of what other users are talking about.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who led the launch of Threads, wrote in a post that the tests begin today.

“Today we’re beginning to test a couple of long-overdue improvements to Search and Trending Now on Threads. In the new Search experience, you’ll be able to search within a specific date range or search for posts from a single account. In the US, where Trending now is available, we’re testing an expanded set of trending topics, along with AI-powered summaries of what people are discussing. If you try out the new features, please share your feedback below.”

A long-running complaint about Threads is that the default home fed is filled with irrelevant, and at times annoying content from account users don’t follow. (Bluesky’s default feed is the opposite. Just yesterday, Mosseri said Meta was tweaking the Threads algorithm to prioritize posts from people you do follow, a significant change to how the platform ranks content.

Engadget reported Threads is making more changes to address long-running complaints from users. This time, the company is testing out improvements to its search and trending topics feature in updates that Adam Mosseri described as “long-overdue improvements.”

On search, Threads is testing the ability to search for posts within specific date ranges and account-specific searches. The change are similar to some of X’s advanced search capabilities and could make it easier for users to look for a specific post they want to revisit. The lack of advanced search on Threads has long been frustrating and up to now, the most reliable way to search for a specific Threads post was to use Google.

Threads is also experimenting with AI-powered summaries for its “trending now” topics, which shows US users a handful of popular topics on the platform. The app will also show an “expanded set” of up to 15 trends (currently, Threads only displays five trends at a time). 

TechCrunch reported: As the Twitter-like social network Bluesky sees a significant surge in users this month, Meta’s own X competitor Threads has been rapidly building out its platform. 

The new addition sounds similar to X’s Stories feature, which uses Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok to summarize trending topics in the social network’s explore section.

Threads is also going to test an expanded set of trending topics, the company noted. Plus users will now be able to search within a specific date range and search for posts from an individual account.

In my opinion, I think Threads is intending to convince more people to use its services. Ideally, having more people use Threads could be good for the social media service.

Threads Confirms It Is Experimenting With Ephemeral Posts

Threads

Automatically disappearing posts on social networks could be handy for users who have a habit of deleting their posts through third-party tools, or if the context of those posts is short-lived. Earlier this month, Threads said it was testing ephemeral posts only as an internal prototype.

Now, the company told TechCrunch that it was testing posts that disappear after 24 hours with a limited number of users.

While the company didn’t provide any statement, a spokesperson said this is a new and casual way to share on Threads. It also didn’t disclose if the experiment is region-specific or who could activate such posts.

According to TechCrunch, app reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi published an ephemeral post on Friday. When you tap on the reply button, you can see the time remaining, after which the post will be deleted. Threads also shows a banner on top of the post indicating that the thread and all replies will disappear when the time ends. 

Engadget reported Threads is testing the option to put a 24-hour expiration timer on their posts, after which the post and all its replies would disappear, Stories-style. A spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the feature is being tested among a group of users after its was first spotted earlier this summer by Alessandro Paluzzi.

It sounds a lot like pre-X Twitter’s Fleets, which didn’t exactly catch on. But, the ephemeral format could save habitual post-deleters some trouble.

It comes a few months after Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared that Threads was experimenting with auto-archiving. That optional feature would let users designate a date for their posts to be hidden from the feed. But Threads users in the past have indicated that they largely aren’t into the idea of automatically archiving, and such a feature hasn’t yet shown up on a wider scale.

PCMag reported Threads is test-driving an option that lets people put an expiration date on their posts. Similar to Instagram Stories, it automatically delete a post after 24 hours. 

Developer Alessandro Paluzzi first posted about the feature earlier this summer, and it’s now being tested with a small group of users, Meta tells TechCrunch. Details are scant; Threads says only that the option is “a new and casual way to share.”

In a screenshot shared by Paluzzi in June, an expiring post features a banner up top that says: “Your post and all replies will be automatically deleted in 24 hours and removed from your profile.” In another screenshot posted by TechCrunch, a banner atop says: “This thread and all replies will disappear when the timer ends.” This lets you know how much time is left on the clock.

In my opinion, I think people who are on Threads might like to have the ability to set a timer and know when that post would automatically disappear. 

Meta Is Testing Messaging Capabilities For Threads

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As Threads has grown to more than 130 million users, one of the major remaining “missing” features users often complain about is the lack of direct messaging abilities. But those missing out on DMs may soon have a new option to message other Threads users, Engadget reported.

Meta is starting to test messaging features that rely on Instagram’s inbox but allow new messages to be initiated from the Threads app. The feature has begun to appear for some Threads users, who report seeing a “message” button atop other users’ profiles where the “mention” feature used to be. A spokesman for Meta confirmed the change, saying the company was “testing the ability to send a message from Threads to Instagram.”

Of note, Threads still doesn’t have its own inbox, and it’s not clear if it ever will. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said multiple times that he doesn’t want to create a separate inbox for Threads, but would rather “make the Instagram inbox work” in the app. A Meta spokesperson further confirmed that “this is not a test of the DMs on Threads.”

CNET reported that the “fediverse” is a collection of social media platforms that can talk to each other. Meta announced on March 21 that Threads would be joining the fediverse. With its more than 130 million monthly active subscribers. Threads is introducing millions of people to the fediverse.

According to CNET, the way you use your Threads account won’t change. It just means you’ll have more opportunities to share your posts more widely, particularly with another popular platform in the fediverse, Mastodon. Eagle-eyed Threads users recently spotted President Biden’s Threads account taking advantage of the new feature.

If you’re on Threads, you can now choose to opt into fediverse sharing. If you do, your Threads account and posts will be discoverable on all fediverse platforms, exposing your posts more widely. You can post on Threads, and people can like, reply, and repost on Mastodon.

Social Media Today reported this week, Meta launched a new live test of DMs on Threads, with some users seeing a new “Message” CTA button on Threads profiles.

According to Social Media Today, the Threads DM option will technically enable you to send messages to users via the app. But, that message won’t be via Threads itself. Instead, you’ll actually be sending your DM to their Instagram inbox.

It’s still a DM option within Threads, providing an advanced connection process within the app. But many will be disappointed that Threads isn’t getting its own DM inbox, which, as a replica of Twitter, would bring it more in line with Twitter’s functionality, and make it easier to use in a broader range of applications.

In my opinion, it’s good that Threads’ users can send DMs to people they know on Instagram. Unfortunately, as someone who uses Instagram (but not Threads), those messages feel like clutter.

Threads Is Rolling Out Trending Topics To All Users In The US

Threads,

Threads, the Twitter-like app from Instagram, is rolling out its “trending now” feature widely to all users in the U.S. The official rollout comes a month after the app started testing the feature with a select number of users in the country. Trending topics are available on the search page and in the app’s For You Feed, TechCrunch reported.

In a Threads post, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the official launch and noted that the company sees it as “an easy way to see what others are talking about on Threads.”

The launch of trending topics will bring Threads more in-line with X, as it will allow users to find timely conversations that are taking place on the social network. Up until now, Threads has been lacking a real-time sense of community, and the introduction of trending topics could help remedy this as it lets you get an idea of what people are currently discussing outside of what you see in your own feeds.

According to TechCrunch, the feature is somewhat limited, as Threads only displays five trending topics at a time, while X shows you multiple. It’s possible that Threads may be limiting the number of trending topics to prevent issues around safety and spam.

Gizmodo reported Thread users in the United States will finally be able to see what topics are trending on the app, a longhand staple feature of Twitter, according to a post from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. The “Trending Now” page appears under the search bar on Threads.

“Trending now is rolling out to the US today so you can see what people are talking about on Threads,” said Mark Zuckerberg in a post on Threads.

According to Gizmodo, Meta tested a trending page on Threads earlier this year called “Today’s Topics.” It appears the company shifted the name of the page to a more familiar name. The “Trending” page has been a staple of Twitter, Threads’ competitor, for years and it’s been highly cited as a missing feature of the Threads platform.

Meta launched Threads last summer, and it blew up in popularity with 49 million users in the first two days. Then all the hype faded away as many of those millions who signed up for the platform when it was first released just stopped using it. Since then, Meta continued to add new feature such as a web browser version, a retweet-like feature called reposts, and even an edit button. These features have made Threads a popular app once again, and Meta said last month that there are more users now than at launch.

Engadget reported Meta is finally providing a bit of visibility into what kinds of conversations are happening on its Twitter competitor, Threads. The service is rolling out its “trending now” feature to all US users, Mark Zuckerberg said in a post.

For now, the feature is still fairly limited. Threads only shows five trending topics at any one time, which is likely an attempt to keep the list relatively curated and avoid some of the issues that have plagued the feature on Twitter and now X.

In my opinion, it is probably good that Threads is attempting to provide users with new features while also curating what goes into trending topics. That might help keep the Meta’s social media alive for a while.

Threads Is Working On A Fix For The “Low Quality” Recommend Posts

Threads

Whether or not you’ve been actively using Threads, you may have noticed – thanks to its integration into the Instagram feed – an off-putting shift in the kinds of posts the platform has been recommending over the last few weeks, Engadget reported.

At best, you might be seeing tons of content that is of no interest to you whatsoever, or copypasta-style engagement bait. At worst? A whole lot of hate speech. In a short video shared on Friday responding to an Ask Me Anything question, Instagram head Adam Mosseri apologized for the “low-quality recommendations” proliferating on Threads and said the team is working on a fix.

“We want people to have a positive experience on Threads, and we’ve actually had some issues over the last few weeks with low-quality recommendations,” Mosseri said, “things that don’t quite violate our Community Guidelines – which is where we take content down entirely – but kind of go right up to that line. We’re working on improving it. A lot of it should be fixed at this point.” He goes on to say that while “there’s a lot more work to do,” users can “expect it to get much better over the next few weeks.”

Social Media Today reported that, as outlined by Mosseri, more Threads users have been shown more borderline content in the app, which is a problem that the team is working to fix, a it continues to improve the 6-month-old platform.

Though the borderline content issue is not a new one for social apps.

Back in 2018, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg provided a broad overview of the ongoing issues with content consumption, and how controversial content inevitably always gains more traction. 

Here is a quote from Mark Zuckerberg that was posted on Social Media Today:

“One of the biggest issues that social networks face is that, when left unchecked, people will engage disproportionately with more sensationalist and provocative content. This is not a new phenomenon. It is widespread on cable news today and has been a staple of tabloids for more than a century. At scale, it can undermine the quality of public discourse and lead to polarization. In our case, it can also degrade the quality of our services.”

Zuckerberg further noted that this is a difficult challenge to solve, because “no matter where we draw the lines for what is allowed, as a piece of content gets close to that line, people will engage with it more on average – even when they tell us afterwards they don’t like the content.”

According to Social Media Today, it seems that Threads is now falling into the same trap, possibly due to its rapid growth, possibly due to the real-time refinement of its systems. But this is how all social networks evolve, with controversial content getting a bigger push, because that is actually what a lot of people are going to engage with.

In my opinion, it is good that Adam Mosseri is working on fixing the problem of the low-quality content that appears to be all over Threads. Doing so makes it clear that he is aware of the problem, and will try to clean up Threads.