After announcing Threads Communities back in September, providing an easier way for Threads users to find topical discussion groups, Threads is now rolling out some Communities updates, with the hopes of making this a more engaging, valuable element in its real-time conversation push.
First off, Threads is expanding on its initial collection of Communities, with over 200 popular interests now available as Community options in the app.
When Threads launched Communities to all users in October, there were around 100 topical interest groups that you could join, in order to link up with other users interested in the same.
Threads says that it’s now more than doubled this, providing more ways to align yourself with relevant interests in the app.
Threads is also testing new “Community Champion” badges, which will highlight members who are highly followed within a Community.
So now, you’ll more easily be able to see who the main voices in any Community on Threads are, which will make it easier to find the right people to follow, while also giving these champions more motivation to continue leading the charge to promote discussion in their area/s of interest.
Threads says that it’s currently testing the new Champions badges with a small number of users, with plans to expand further over time.
Finally, Threads is also testing Community flair, which will enable group members to show off what specific elements of a topic they’re most interested in.
As explained by Threads:
“We’re testing a simple label that will let members show what they’re into within a community, like a favorite book genre in BookThreads. Community champions set the flair options, and members can choose one that appears on all their posts in that space.”
So you’ll have another means to showcase your interests in-stream, which could help to spark more discussions, and provide more motivation for top posters to stay active.
Which is the real aim behind all of these updtes. Threads wants to keep people posting updates to the various communities, in order to spark more in-app discussion, and drive more engagement in the app. Ideally, that will help to fuel more real-time chatter around major events (like sports), while also powering more Reddit-style in-depth discussions about topics of niche interest.
That would not only help to make Threads a more valuable experience for more users, but it would also give Meta more data to help fuel its AI projects. And for the latter, the more specific it can get, the better, as active communities on very niche topics will ensure that Meta’s AI chatbot can provide more accurate, valuable answers to people asking about these subjects.
