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?
One of the creators of the ActivityPub protocol, Evan Prodromou, is now beta testing the ability to cross-post from Threads to Mastodon. He’s the first non-Meta employee I’m aware of with this feature enabled, which suggests that we’re getting closer to a wider rollout.
In other Threads news: Everyone now has the ability to save drafts and access the phone camera directly in the app.
It works like bookmarking on X or saving posts on Instagram and comes after Meta ran a “limited test” of the feature earlier this month.
It’s been 12 days since Meta announced it was testing a way to easily follow what people are talking about on Threads, and now many users are reporting seeing it — including our own Richard Lawler.
I don’t have it yet, because I’m cursed. If you do, you’ll see “Today’s topics” either between posts in the For You feed or in the search tab.
Two changes spotted by app researchers show how the platforms are testing tweaks — X with carousel-style image galleries instead of grids, and Threads with buttons spaced apart.
Nima Owji shared the change on X and Alessandro Paluzzi pointed out the Threads update. Meta insisted that Threads isn’t an X clone — but at least in terms of look and feel, the two are getting closer and closer.
Zuck says both features are in testing, and Meta just forwarded us the below:
Drafts: allows you to save in-progress posts for future editing and posting.
Threads Camera: opens your phone’s camera directly in the Threads composer, making it easier to share photos on Threads.
Today’s release of Draft and Camera are initial tests. Currently, you can save one draft post, and you can take one photo per post with the Threads Camera.
Correction, 7:34PM ET: Meta originally told us you could take videos too, but now says videos aren’t available yet. If you don’t see the options, it’s because “This is a global test with a limited number of people.”
For a few years now, Meta’s Oversight Board has had the power to (very slowly, it seems) issue decisions determining how Facebook and Instagram should be moderated, and soon, the body will also be responsible for overseeing Threads.
Meta is only rolling out the test to its Facebook iOS app, and not in the EU, the company confirmed to TechCrunch today. Threads posts already show up on Facebook, provided you don’t opt out.
TechCrunch writes that when user whimchic tried the feature in the Facebook iOS app, the post went to both platforms, but without any indication on Threads that it was a cross-post.
The feature will work similarly to bookmarks on Instagram, allowing you to save posts and look at them later. It’s still in a “limited test” though, so you might not have it right away.
The buzziest new thing in social networking is a big deal. It’s also very confusing. And it’s not actually new. Let’s talk about it.
That comes courtesy of Alessandro Paluzzi, who frequently reverse engineers and reveals Threads and Instagram features. The new option lets you turn fediverse sharing on and off at will and you can easily copy your username formatted for the decentralized Activity Pub social protocol.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said recently that Threads users will also be able to follow and interact with fediverse accounts from Threads, though their accounts will have to be public to do so.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed in a post today that the Threads team is working on “surfacing trends”, so that new feature is definitely on the way.
Last month, leaker Alessandro Paluzzi posted a screenshot of a feature entitled “Today’s topics” that seems similar to X’s “Trending Topics”, which display topics that users are engaging with the most. He said it could also include reviews by specialists, to avoid trends like “Taylor Swift AI.”
So get ready to sit on those hot takes a little longer. Alessandro Paluzzi, who regularly finds new features by reverse engineering apps, posted a screenshot showing this new “Save draft” option.
That’s according to Alessandro Paluzzi, who regularly spots features in the works for apps like Threads and Instagram.
I’m not much of a bookmarker myself, but if you are, I’m hoping for you that this feature comes out soon.
Tom Coates was recently at a meeting with Meta’s Threads team talking about ActivityPub, the fediverse, and the future of social. He took a lot of interesting notes! And in those notes he has a near-future roadmap for Threads’ decentralization plans:
• Early 2024 (Part One) – the Like counts on the Threads app would combine likes from Mastodon and Threads users
• Early 2024 (Part Two) – replies posted on Mastodon servers would be visible in the Threads application
• Late 2024 – A “mixed” Fediverse and Threads experience where you will be able to follow Mastodon users within Threads, and reply to them and like them
[plasticbag.org]
“Earlier today, an internal prototype was accidentally made available for a small number of people — this is not something we’re testing externally at this time,“ the company told TechCrunch. It’s a shame, since sorting by latest would make it much easier to track breaking news on Threads. Apparently Meta thinks the feature would create a “substantial safety loophole.”
It looks like the app might be adding a list of topics “based on what people are engaging with right now,” according to app developer Alessandro Paluzzi. You can see how the feature might look in the screenshot below, which has a “Today’s topic” heading positioned beneath the search bar.
Meanwhile, a separate post from Paluzzi also suggests Threads might add a feature that shows live updates for “upcoming, ongoing and past sports events.”
Adam Mosseri says that Threads has had some issues with what he calls “low quality recommendations” over the last few weeks. He says that “a lot of it” should be fixed and that things should get “much better over the next few weeks.”
That’s according to a Threads developer, at least. Can’t wait for Techmeme to use the API eventually. (And, hopefully, many other accounts.)
Posts wishing people a happy New Year on Meta’s Threads might come with fun colors and effects to celebrate the holiday.
Alessandro Paluzzi, who frequently discovers new features (like the Threads edit button) before they’re out, by reverse engineering apps, posted a screenshot of the festive text in action.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri posted a little more about the plan to integrate Threads with the fediverse.
While responding to some skepticism about pushing posts out to other ActivityPub instances, Mosseri said only public accounts will show in the wider fediverse outside of Threads, and — though he said this isn’t fully decided — only after users “explicitly opt in.”
I mean, that’s kind of grandiose, but it’s not that grandiose? How the whole Beeper vs. Apple thing ends will matter in big ways, even if you don’t care about bubble colors. Epic v. Google could upend the app store ecosystem. And Threads, well, Threads is crushing it right now.
I’m seeing Adam Mosseri’s new Threads video when I look at his Threads account via mastodon.social on the web. It even showed up in my regular Mastodon feed! I can’t believe this actually works. Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko is pretty excited, too.
It turns out you can use Threads’ new hashtags to troll people into clicking “show more” and actually doing a tag search instead. Threads launched in Europe today, so as these newcomers get used to a new social media home, make sure you drop a show more post into the mix. It’s harmless fun that will probably get lost in all the new conversations about fine wine, great Italian food, and the British moaning about the weather again.
A Threads user, Kevin Beaumont, shared screenshots of Adam Mosseri’s account on the Mastodon client Ivory, and on Mastodon, Beaumont shared screenshots of following Mosseri’s Threads account from his Mastodon account. It’s happening!
Threads currently matches the fact-check ratings from Facebook and Instagram, but “our goal is for fact-checking partners to have the ability to review and rate misinformation on the app,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post on Threads.
Improving fact-checking tools could make Threads a more attractive place for publishers. (The forthcoming API might help, too.)
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri’s small announcement is important to anyone who publishes content on the internet. Until now, traffic from Threads was indistinguishable from Instagram in the metrics used by sites like this one, But now that it has a separate link referrer, site owners can see for themselves how much traffic it’s sending in comparison to competitors.
On the other hand, Twitter / X allegedly just signed up 10 million new people in a week, if you can believe that.
Even as big advertisers exit, sports Twitter has continued going strong. But now the official Threads account announced that sports/NBA Twitter’s newsbreaker Adrian Wojnarowski “has landed” and is doing a Q&A Friday.
If “woj bombs” are on the move, it might be about more than hashtags — Wojnarowski works at ESPN, which is still owned by Disney. Musk singled out Disney CEO Bob Iger with his “go f yourself” comments last week, then followed up with more attacks and accusations today while misspelling Iger’s name and saying “He should be fired immediately.”
If somebody has turned an emoji into a tag, you’ll be able to click on that emoji to see other people talking about it.
In other news, please join my waffle club.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says letting users see search results chronologically “would create a substantial safety loophole.” I’ve replied to ask exactly what he means by that. Perhaps it’s so that Meta can always algorithmically sort search results and root out the bad stuff? I do hope Mosseri reconsiders this position, as chronological search results on X (formerly Twitter) can be pretty useful.
On Thursday, Meta expanded Threads’ keyword search feature to more languages.
Meta started letting users in English and Spanish-speaking countries search for keywords in September, but now it’s available to Threads users globally and in all languages.
