Unlock the Mystery of Instagram-Powered DM – Will Threads Get One?
Threads, which launched as an alternative to the ever-changing X (formerly Twitter) about four months ago, has successfully created a welcoming environment for users. This is due to its prompt introduction of new features, responsiveness to user feedback, and support for the decentralized social media infrastructure known as the fediverse. However, users have expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of direct messaging (DM) functionality. Despite being a highly requested feature, developers and decision-makers of the platform are facing significant challenges in addressing this issue.
Earlier today, November 15th, Platformer’s Casey Newton posted speculation that Threads will definitely get a DM in the future, although the timeline is unclear. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, who also oversees the Threads project, responded to the post saying, “Possibly. I hope we get the Instagram inbox working, and there’s still a lot of work to be done. We just announced the ability to post from Threads without switching apps. We have continue to make it easier, improve the reception experience and work on a more comprehensive set of communication management devices.”
Getting a Threads DM is complicated
What Mosseri was referring to was a workaround where Threads users can stay in Instagram DMs instead of getting a separate message, and the developers are adding a feature to send messages directly through Instagram without having to leave the app.
Oliver Darcy, a senior reporter at CNN, had a legitimate question about this approach. He said: “One of the biggest issues here: If two people follow each other on Threads but not on Instagram, how are they supposed to send private messages through Instagram?”
The worry doesn’t end there. The problem with regular DM is also long-term. Threads has announced that users can individually deactivate their Threads account without having to delete their Instagram account. But this would mean that at some point users can also delete Instagram or not join Instagram while signing up and using Threads. So what happens to DMs? Another question to consider is how the whole fediversal thing will work, since Threads don’t have independent conversations and it’s unlikely that Instagram will share its data with another platform.
Mosseri also suggested a path to it, but it seems quite complicated to be honest, and given his reasons, understandably so. He said, “If we can’t eventually get the Instagram inbox working in Threads, we’ll have a tough choice to make: 1) mirror the Instagram inbox in Threads and deal with the quirks of notification routing, and (2) build a completely separate Threads inbox and deal with the fact that you have two extra threads with each of your friends with the same handles in two different apps. Neither looks great.”
