Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is planning a feed for its Twitter rival Threads after users complained about the lack of chronological posts. The new app currently shows a mix of posts from people followed and recommended content. Threads After Users Complain About Lack of Chronological Posts.
Many creators worry that Threads could create a culture clash between Twitter refugees who want pithy observations and Instagram-natives who crave visually appealing content. Some are converting their Instagram followers to Threads accounts to test the waters. Threads After Users Complain About Lack of Chronological Posts.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri responds to Threads users’ complaints
The new Threads app from Instagram parent Meta is live and a lot of people don’t like it. The app is a text-based social media platform that looks a lot like Twitter and has already attracted 30 million sign-ups in less than a week.
The social media app’s current home feed shows a mix of posts from accounts users follow and recommended posts chosen by Threads’ algorithm. Some users complained about this and asked Meta for more control over their feed. The app’s boss Adam Mosseri responded to some of these complaints on Wednesday and said that adding an alternative home feed that just shows posts from accounts they follow is “on the list”.
This will be helpful to users who might want to try out the platform but do not have an Instagram account.
Threads’ new home feed is “on the list”
The app is already more than 30 million users strong and growing rapidly, although it’s still early days for Meta’s clapback at Twitter. The company’s new text-based app offers a real alternative to Twitter, whose tumultuous ownership by Elon Musk and frequent technical issues have left many of the social network’s most active users seeking alternatives.
The current home feed on Threads mixes posts from accounts you follow with recommendations based on your activity. A chronological feed that includes the latest updates from all your followed accounts would be a nice addition, though that feature may be a while off.
It’s also not yet clear whether Threads will allow you to interact with other social-media platforms using the open ActivityPub protocol, which lets users post across multiple sites. While this is a feature that could help Threads become more competitive with other social-media apps, it’s not a given that it will happen at all. Mosseri said adding this functionality to Threads is “on the list.” But he didn’t give any indication of when that might happen, or even whether it would be a priority.
Threads’ decentralised ambitions
Despite being a Twitter alternative, it’s not yet clear whether Threads will unseat the original.
And the new app doesn’t give users the ability to filter content by those they follow or by hashtags, so it may be harder to find people or conversations on the platform.
Meta’s plan is to make Threads interoperable with non-Meta social media platforms that support the ActivityPub standard (a decentralised protocol similar to those used by Mastodon and WordPress). This would allow people to interact with other servers, including those run by independent communities. This is part of Meta’s vision for The Fediverse, a network of interconnected social media networks.
Threads’ future
As Threads continues to roll out, users have expressed concerns about its bare-bones app. Mosseri has indicated it may add hashtags, a search function that shows accounts a user follows and direct messaging in the future.
He also plans to enable Threads users to keep their Instagram followers and usernames, reducing the possibility of people name-squatting high profile accounts needs read more hear.
