Meta’s social community Threads, an X competitor with greater than 320 million month-to-month lively customers, is now rolling out new options associated to matters, reply controls, and video playback within the app, amongst different issues. It’s additionally making political content material solutions extra customized to the person, the corporate says.
Mixed, the options intention to make the app extra related to customers and hold them engaged with the community’s content material, at a time when X is not the one competitor Threads faces. At present, Meta faces the rise of different networks like Bluesky, which now has over 33 million customers and a platform that’s inspiring rivals to Instagram, as effectively.
To assist Threads customers higher join, customers will now be capable to add as much as 10 matters they’re interested by to their profile on the social community. Tapping on these matters will then present you associated posts, which makes it simpler to have interaction with others on the social community who share your identical pursuits.
The corporate started testing the characteristic so as to add curiosity to profiles earlier this month, TechCrunch reported. The characteristic remains to be being described as a “take a look at” with its broader launch right this moment.
When composing a brand new publish, customers will now see prompts so as to add a urged trending matter to your publish, if related, or a subject associated to different posts you’ve beforehand shared. These matter tag solutions intention to assist posts attain an viewers who’s additionally interested by that topic, Meta explains.
Threads can be introducing a redesigned matter tag, which appears like a capsule and is discovered subsequent to the posts on the For You feed. Customers will be capable to shortly faucet on the tag to see all of the posts tagged with that exact matter.
Meta claims posts with tagged matters “typically obtain extra views” than these with out, however didn’t share any particular knowledge to again up that assertion.
One other new characteristic lets you handle how folks work together together with your posts and the posts you see. Now, you’ll be capable to permit solely your followers to answer to or quote a selected publish.
The addition builds on the quote management Threads launched again in November 2024 that permits you to restrict quote posts to anybody, profiles you observe, or these you’ve talked about solely.
Additionally in November, Threads started to experiment with permitting customers to select a default feed that’s not the algorithmic feed after rolling out customized feeds to compete with the social community Bluesky.
Now, Threads will permit customers to shuffle the order of their customized feeds. Which means you may even make a customized feed the default that shows once you first open the app — a characteristic customers have been asking for.
One other replace improves video playback on Threads. Together with the opposite adjustments, Meta is launching a redesigned video participant that has easy-to-access pause/play and skip controls together with a pinned progress bar to simply scrub by means of the video.
Notably, Meta additionally mentioned that it’s began phasing again civic and political content material into the Threads in a extra customized means.
The corporate controversially determined in 2024 to cease proactively recommending political content material to customers on Instagram and Threads, forward of a essential U.S. presidential election. After the election wrapped, with President Trump in energy, Meta introduced it could then start to part again in political content material on Fb, Instagram and Threads.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg additionally dismantled the corporate’s fact-checking program after the election, selecting to rely solely on group moderation efforts going ahead.
As part of these efforts, the corporate mentioned it could start to re-add political content material to customers’ feeds, primarily based on what Meta determines they wish to see. In different phrases, it goals to re-create the echo chamber the place the person’s worldview is strengthened with out publicity to the opposite aspect.
Meta says it would proceed to hearken to person suggestions because it additional develops Threads.
Further reporting: Sarah Perez