Instagram head says Threads ‘Following’ feed is ‘on the list’ of upcoming features

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Threads, Meta’s highly anticipated Twitter competitor debuted yesterday and already has over 23 million subscribers. The app is a lot like Twitter, but it lacks a key feature: a feed that only shows posts from people you follow. The app now has one feed for him, showing posts from both people he follows and people he doesn’t follow. Twitter, on the other hand, has a “Following” and “For You” feed.

In response to calls for a follow feed in threads, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said it was “on a list” of features the platform would like to see added in the future. Mosseri commented in response to a post by YouTuber Marques Brownlee. Like Twitter, Instagram has a “Following” list view in addition to its default algorithmic feed, so it makes sense that Threads would have a list view as well.

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Other features Mosseri is “on the list” include the ability to switch between different thread accounts and the option to edit posts. Mosseri also said the app still lacks some basic features, such as the ability to search hashtags. It’s worth noting that users want the ability to double-tap to “like” a post, Meta is trying to implement this, but the problem is that you can tap a thread to open the entire thread. It’s a necessity, he said, Mr. Mosseri. That is, “You don’t want an element that can be both tapped and double tapped.”

Threads allow Instagram users to authenticate with their existing credentials and post short updates such as text up to 500 characters, links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length. At launch, Threads is available for iOS and Android in 100 countries, but reportedly not in the EU due to concerns about complying with local data privacy regulations.

Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter rival Bluesky has grown in popularity in recent months with its own decentralized protocol, the AT protocol, but Instagram’s new app will soon offer support for ActivityPub. is. ActivityPub is the same social networking protocol used by open-source Twitter rival Mastodon. , along with other federated apps.

To access threads, users must first authenticate using their current Instagram login credentials. The app will be populated with your existing account details such as name, username, photo and followers. Validation carries over to new apps.