Threads App Introduces New Features – Sharing Posts on Instagram DMs and Custom Alt-Texts
The Threads app, once hailed as a potential rival to Twitter, is currently facing difficulties in gaining popularity. Despite its impressive start on July 6, where it gained 100 million followers in just 5 days, the app’s initial success seems to have faded. According to a report by market analysis firm Sensor Tower, the average daily usage of Threads has dropped by over 75 percent since its launch.
To keep users engaged, Meta announced that several new features will be released to the platform this week. Check what’s new.
Threads update: What’s new
In a Threads post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared several important updates that will be rolling out on Threads this week. Since the app is built by Instagram, it can interact with the app more interestingly. With the update, users can now share the post directly with their Instagram DM messages, so there is no need to copy the link or select the app from the sharing screen. This can be done with the new “Post on Instagram” option.
In addition, the microblogging platform also has a new mention button that allows users to mention other accounts in their thread. Finally, custom alt texts for photos and videos are available. For the uninitiated, alt text provides a visual description of the image or video on the page. This feature is especially useful for the visually impaired.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, also posted about several new Threads features coming soon. In the future, Threads users will be able to verify their profiles on Mastodon and other supported platforms. Users can also see all the T-threads they’ve liked by going to their profile and then their settings. With the update, Threads accounts can also be sorted according to user preferences.
Requested features
While these new features are introduced to improve the user experience on the platform, users are demanding more features to be brought to the platform. Under Zuckerberg’s post about Threads updates, users requested features such as their own Thread Desk, hashtags, trending topics, live audio/video functionality, analytics to track engagement, multiple account login options, and more.
All of these features are already available on X (formerly Twitter), which is competing with the likes of Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky Social to become the world’s number one microblogging platform.
