Threads Launches Communities to Rival X
▼ Summary
– Meta’s Threads app is launching a new Communities feature with over 100 communities for users to discuss topics like sports, TV, and books.
– Threads Communities differ from X’s by being created and managed by Meta rather than users, and non-members can participate in discussions.
– Community members gain special privileges like custom “Like” emojis and will soon receive profile badges for active participation.
– Threads automatically displays users’ joined communities on their profiles to publicly signal their interests without hiding options.
– The feature builds on existing user behavior with Topic Tags and will include improved ranking systems to highlight top posts in feeds.
Instagram Threads, the popular social media platform from Meta, is introducing a significant new feature called Communities. This move aims to provide users with dedicated spaces for connecting over shared interests, marking a strategic step in the app’s evolution. With over 400 million monthly active users, Threads is positioning itself as a robust alternative to other social networks by fostering more organized and topic-focused interactions.
Meta has launched more than 100 communities covering subjects like basketball, television, K-pop, and books. The goal is to give people specific areas where they can engage in deeper conversations about their passions. When users join a community, it appears on their profile, and members gain access to a custom “Like” emoji tailored to that group’s theme.
At first glance, this feature resembles the Communities found on X, but there are important distinctions in how each platform handles them. On X, communities are user-created and moderated, functioning similarly to subreddits. Posts are visible across the platform, though participation is limited to members. In contrast, Meta itself is creating the communities on Threads, and while anyone can view discussions, only members enjoy special perks like exclusive emoji reactions.
For example, the NBA community on Threads uses a basketball emoji for likes, while the Book community features a stack of books. Active contributors will soon receive profile badges as an additional incentive. Community posts can surface in the main For You and Following feeds, broadening their reach.
Threads also integrates communities differently into user profiles. When you join, the community’s topic tag is automatically added to your profile, publicly signaling your interests. According to Meta, this cannot be hidden, as the design intends to help users quickly identify shared topics with others.
This approach may resonate well because it builds on existing user behavior. Early on, Threads users naturally formed groups around Topic Tags, a version of hashtags without the “#” symbol. Popular tags like NBA Threads already functioned as informal communities. Now, members can post directly to these groups without manually adding tags and can customize their feed to prioritize a favorite community’s content.
Meta plans to test enhanced ranking algorithms to surface the best posts within communities and across the For You feed. This strategy of observing and formalizing user patterns echoes how early Twitter features like hashtags and retweets evolved, which helped drive engagement and growth.
Recent data shows Threads is gaining ground on X in terms of daily mobile active users. By launching communities based on the most popular interests observed on the platform, Meta hopes to strengthen user retention and interaction. The company had previously allowed a small group of testers to try the feature, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri hinted at its arrival ahead of the official beta release.
(Source: TechCrunch)
