Threads Tests New Topic Discovery Elements to Drive Engagement

While Threads doesn’t want people posting about divisive politics, and bringing down the more positive vibe in the app, it is gradually adding in more topical and trending engagement options, as it leans into the real-time nature of the Twitter-like experience.

First off, Threads is rolling out a new blue label above posts that are related to a trending topic in the app, which will make it easier for users to tap through and link into the broader, evolving conversation.

As you can see in this example, posted by Threads chief Adam Mosseri, tapping on the linked topic will take you through to a search listing for that term, which you can sort by “Recent” to get the latest updates.

Which is a simple way to incorporate trends, and with Threads now making the “Recent” filter available, that’ll be another way to lean into real time chatter, and get more people talking in the app.

And it’ll probably be better that Threads’ current Trending Topics listing, which often misses the major discussion points, and will likely continue to do so over the coming months, in the U.S. at least, due to Threads’ aversion to politics.

Though that’s also getting something of an upgrade, with some users seeing a new “Now” alert for the big in-progress discussions.

Highlighting the key topic of the moment seems like an easy way to boost engagement and awareness, and that will get more people tapping through. But again, if the major news of the day is, say, Joe Biden standing down from the election, Threads still wants no piece of it.

Which is a problem for an app focused on real-time engagement, and poses a more unique challenge for Threads specifically, as opposed to Meta’s other apps.

Both Facebook and Instagram have been able to successfully de-prioritize politics in favor of mindless video content, which lures users in as they scroll, and is successful because of Meta’s broad knowledge of your likely interests. People also aren’t as interested in political news in these apps, because they visit them for different purpose. But on Threads, which, whether Meta likes it or not, is viewed by many users as a Twitter replacement, users do come to find out what’s happening at any given moment, and to learn about major news stories as they break, and what people are saying about them in real-time.

And that absolutely includes politics.

I mean, Meta’s definition of political content is also problematic, in that it invariably branches into a range of gray areas, based on keywords and profile matching, that may or may not be political in nature.

Threads chief Adam Mosseri has said that most of its actions in restricting political content are at account level, because keyword matching presumably leads to too many false positives. But even then, that means that interesting, engaging commentators may be restricted. And when you consider that only 20% of Twitter/X users ever post at all, it’s likely that Threads really can’t afford to be losing any of the voices that drive engagement.

It also inadvertently drives traffic to X every time a major news story breaks.

Many users have now switched to Threads as a replacement for real time engagement, but if something’s happening, Threads’ political restrictions make it tough to follow along in the app. So many switch back to X instead to get the latest, which is an audience cohort that Threads could absolutely keep.  

Mosseri and Co. know this, and they’ve obviously weighed the impacts and benefits. But again, I do feel like Meta’s taking the lessons that it’s learned from Facebook and IG and merging them into a completely different app.

These new discovery additions potentially point to a gradual shift in this respect, as does this new search filter option in testing.

Being able to search for posts by date would be another way to help focus on specific discussions and trends, and drive more engagement in the app.

But the political limitations will continue to be just that, limitations for an app that needs to represent the pulse of the world at any given time.

And while Threads is still growing (Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today that Threads is closing in on 200 million monthly users), it’s still less than half the size of X.

I suspect that there’s at least one big reason why that is, and why it will remain a supplementary focus for many of those who could be its most active users.