Threads is the fastest-growing social media platform of all time, reaching 100 million users in just five days. The platform was launched by Meta to compete with Twitter after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk and had a precipitous decline in users and quality. While it ties directly into Instagram and is built on the same technology, Threads is intended to be a town square for the internet. But can a town square thrive when it’s filled suddenly with millions of voices and moderated in the same way that made Instagram a place that was friendly for brands and few others?
The changes include tools to compare post performance over time and see where people encounter your posts. You can read more about the changes in a blog post or on Threads.
Meta appears to be testing the option to sign up for its X rival with a Facebook account, as it slowly separates Threads from its Instagram origins, with a support page but no official announcement yet. It opens up a new audience for the app, which is closing in on X’s daily active user numbers.
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According to Similarweb data reported by TechCrunch, the Threads mobile app reached 115.1 million daily active users in June, compared to the 132 million daily actives for X and 4.1 million for Bluesky. But while X’s growth declined by 15.2 percent year-over-year on mobile, Threads has increased by 127.8 percent during the same period.
X only has to take Meta seriously on iOS and Android, however, given it’s still thrashing both Threads and Bluesky for web visits.
The company doesn’t have any posts on the platform yet, but you can follow its profile now.
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Meta is testing a new feature that lets you add specific topics to a dedicated “Interests” section on your Threads profile, as spotted by @faslu_35. The company confirmed the test to TechCrunch.
My colleague Chris Welch spotted that the tab had been pinned to the top of his home screen in the iOS app, beckoning him to stick with Threads for the latest news on the awards show, which is starting in less than an hour at 7PM ET.
I don’t have it, but it’s not unusual for Threads to test the waters before rolling features out to everyone.
Tapping on the new feature gives you a dedicated feed of all the images and videos posted by the account you’re viewing — including your own. Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the Threads media tab has rolled out globally, alongside the ability to tag people in the photos you share, and a “markup” feature that allows users to highlight or draw on quoted posts.
After sharing some screenshots of the feature earlier this month, Alessandro Paluzzi shared a couple more of the feature today.
If you want to join the Community Notes waitlist, you can do that here.
404 Media has updates from unnamed employees on how the moderation changes have been received:
“The entire thread of comments shared is dissent toward the new policy, save for one leader repeating Zuckerberg talking points. I’d call the mood shock and disbelief,” they added. “It’s embarrassment and shame that feels self-inflicted, different than mistakes the company has made in the past.”
Oh, and as for Joel Kaplan’s More Speech and Fewer Mistakes, Meta is already answering an “error” that blanked out search results for “LGBT” and “Trans.”
We didn’t all flock to a new platform or build on a thrilling new protocol. We went everywhere, and did everything, all at once.
Just seeing a Threads post on Instagram doesn’t count toward Threads’ more than 100 million daily active users, Zuckerberg tells Hank Green. “You’d have to tap on the post and open Threads while logged in to be counted for DAU,” Zuckerberg says.
