What We Still Don’t Know About Meta’s Twitter Rival, Threads

Threads, the text-based Twitter alternative developed by Meta, has been released to the public. In comparison to other contenders aiming to challenge Twitter’s dominance, Threads has experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity. Mark Zuckerberg revealed that within a day of its launch, the Instagram spin-off had amassed over 30 million new registrations.

Vauhti seems to have scared Elon Musk, whose personal lawyer has reportedly threatened to sue Meta for unspecified “trade secrets”. But even as the Meta vs. Twitter race continues, there are still big questions about the new platform and how Meta plans to use it.

Why the relentless focus on brands and influencers?

It’s no secret that Meta started testing Threads with a relatively small group of creators and celebrities before its official release. The team provided the company with early feedback and helped ensure that when the floodgates finally opened, new users were greeted with more than an empty feed.

It worked. New Threads users found a vibrant feed full of posts when they joined. But it’s also resulted in the main input feeling a bit… underpowered. Finding posts from friends, especially recent posts, can be difficult as the current feed algorithm seems to heavily favor influencers, celebrities, brands and other higher profile accounts. Which leads us to..

What about non-algorithmic input?

If you know anything about Twitter, the original reverse chronological feed is sacred to many longtime users. The same is true in some corners of Instagram, which returned to its chronological feed last year after a five-year hiatus.

So it might seem a little annoying that Threads currently has one algorithmic feed that seems to lean pretty heavily on recommended posts from accounts you don’t already follow. In addition to not having a chronological feed, there’s no way to view just a feed of posts from the accounts you follow (though some have found a workaround by messing with the app’s notification settings).

Both Instagram chief Adam Mosser and Zuckerberg have since confirmed that a “following” feed — meaning a feed only for the accounts you follow — is in the works, though it’s unclear whether that feed will be chronological or algorithmic. helps solve the “garbage hose” problem, as Slate’s Alex Kirshner described it,

How does Threads engage with the wider fediversium?

One of the most intriguing aspects of Threads is Meta’s promise to integrate ActivityPub, an open-source protocol that runs on Mastodon and other decentralized platforms that make up the “Fediverse.”

Mosseri told The Verge that Threads was released without ActivityPub due to its complexity. “It takes a lot more work,” he said. But the company seems committed to the idea.

In its announcement, the company suggested it was all-in on the open standard and what it represents for the future of social networks. “Our vision is that people using compatible apps can follow and interact in Threads without having a Threads account and vice versa, ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks,” Meta wrote.

But the prospect of a possible fediverse integration also raises all kinds of new questions. How does the app, which is currently a spinoff of Instagram, handle interoperability with other allied platforms? Currently, Threads requires an Instagram account, which is not decentralized or open source, much less compatible with ActivityPub. Users can’t even delete their Threads account without also deleting their Instagram account. So how do Threads users take their audience with them if they decide to leave? (Even in Mastodon, the process is far from simple.)

How do people on thousands of Mastodon servers see and interact with threads? Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko has suggested that enabling compatibility is up to individual server administrators, but it’s still not clear how this functionality would work. And that doesn’t address what might be possible on other platforms committed to supporting ActivityPub, like Tumblr and Flipboard, which might be less enthusiastic about having their platforms’ content available as a Meta-owned service.

Fediverse support also raises all kinds of content moderation issues. Officially, Threads has the same community rules as Instagram, but allied platforms are free to set their own standards and norms. How does Meta keep content from other platforms that violates its rules out of Threads when the posts are interoperable?

What about content moderation?

As for content moderation, Meta hasn’t really addressed how it plans to scale its content moderation function to handle the sudden influx of new users to the brand new platform. So far, the company has been clear that Instagram’s current community rules apply to Threads and that it hopes to foster a more “positive” environment.

But it’s unclear how the company handles enforcement internally. And while Meta employees try to emphasize the good vibes, history has taught us that where there are millions of users, there are bound to be bad actors spreading hate speech, misinformation, and all the familiar vices of giant social media platforms.

Currently, it appears that Threads relies heavily on Instagram’s moderation infrastructure. For example, the app will warn you before it tries to follow a user who has repeatedly shared false information. The company is also pushing users to move blocking, restriction and word filtering settings from Instagram. But with over 95 million posts in its first day of existence, Threads will probably need its own moderation resources at some point.

Where are all the… other features?

The immediate most pressing question for most Threads users is when Meta will start adding a bunch of basic features that could make Thread more functional, like Twitter and other services. So far, many have pointed out the lack of several basic features.

Direct messages: Unlike Twitter and Instagram, Threads does not have private messages. And so far, it’s unclear whether that could change. Mosseri seems wary of the idea, telling The Verge that he’s hesitant to contribute to “inbox fatigue.”

Web Interface: For many Twitter power users, one of the most frustrating aspects of Threads is the lack of a proper web interface. For now, you can manually view posts in threads by going to users’ public profiles, but you can’t view your feed or interact with posts. Here again, Mosseri says that it is a work in progress. “Mobile apps are preferred, but we are working with the www,” he wrote.

Search and Hashtags: While Threads makes it easy enough to find people in an existing social media graph, Threads doesn’t let you search for posts or even use basic filtering tools like hashtags.

Accessibility: Unfortunately, as with many new platforms, Threads has so far neglected some accessibility features. For example, there’s no support for alt text on photos, which seems like a pretty glaring omission given Threads’ ties to Instagram.

Ads: Most users (except for brands) probably don’t require ads in their new feeds. But Threads’ launch has raised questions about what Meta’s ultimate advertising plan will be. According to Zuckerberg, there will be no ads in the near future. “Our approach is the same as all our other products: first get the product working well, then we’ll see if we can get it on the road for a billion people, and only then will we think about commercialization at that point,” he wrote Kierteet.

While we don’t know exactly which features Meta will prioritize first, it seems safe to say that we won’t have to wait too long for at least some of these features. One advantage Threads has over many of its emerging competitors is that Metal has infinitely more engineers to devote to these problems. And the new features are key if the company wants Threads to be a long-term success and not just a novelty.