Meta’s social network Threads, an X competitor with more than 320 million monthly active users, is now rolling out new features related to topics, reply controls, and video playback in the app, among other things. It’s also making political content suggestions more personalized to the user, the company says.
Combined, the features aim to make the app more relevant to users and keep them engaged with the network’s content, at a time when X is no longer the only competitor Threads faces. Today, Meta faces the rise of alternative networks like Bluesky, which now has over 33 million users and a platform that’s inspiring rivals to Instagram, as well.
To help Threads users better connect, users will now be able to add up to 10 topics they’re interested in to their profile on the social network. Tapping on those topics will then show you related posts, which makes it easier to engage with others on the social network who share your same interests.
The company began testing the feature to add interest to profiles earlier this month, TechCrunch reported. The feature is still being described as a “test” with its broader launch today.
When composing a new post, users will now see prompts to add a suggested trending topic to your post, if relevant, or a topic related to other posts you’ve previously shared. These topic tag suggestions aim to help posts reach an audience who’s also interested in that subject, Meta explains.
Threads is also introducing a redesigned topic tag, which looks like a pill and is found next to the posts on the For You feed. Users will be able to quickly tap on the tag to see all the posts tagged with that particular topic.
Meta claims posts with tagged topics “generally receive more views” than those without, but didn’t share any specific data to back up that statement.
Another new feature allows you to manage how people interact with your posts and the posts you see. Now, you’ll be able to allow only your followers to reply to or quote a particular post.
The addition builds on the quote control Threads launched back in November 2024 that lets you limit quote posts to anyone, profiles you follow, or those you’ve mentioned only.
Also in November, Threads began to experiment with allowing users to pick a default feed that’s not the algorithmic feed after rolling out custom feeds to compete with the social network Bluesky.
Now, Threads will allow users to shuffle the order of their custom feeds. That means you can even make a custom feed the default that displays when you first open the app — a feature users have been asking for.
Another update improves video playback on Threads. Along with the other changes, Meta is launching a redesigned video player that has easy-to-access pause/play and skip controls along with a pinned progress bar to easily scrub through the video.
Notably, Meta also said that it’s started phasing back civic and political content into the Threads in a more personalized way.
The company controversially decided in 2024 to stop proactively recommending political content to users on Instagram and Threads, ahead of a critical U.S. presidential election. After the election wrapped, with President Trump in power, Meta announced it would then begin to phase back in political content on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also dismantled the company’s fact-checking program after the election, choosing to rely only on community moderation efforts going forward.
As a part of those efforts, the company said it would begin to re-add political content to users’ feeds, based on what Meta determines they want to see. In other words, it aims to re-create the echo chamber where the user’s worldview is reinforced without exposure to the other side.
Meta says it will continue to listen to user feedback as it further develops Threads.
Additional reporting: Sarah Perez
