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Threads is working on a bunch of a new features that will help it compete with Twitter after its hurried release, head of Instagram says

Jul 12, 2023, 18:19 IST
Business Insider
The Threads app and Adam Mosseri.Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • Threads is prioritizing a few new features, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri said Tuesday.
  • That includes an edit button, a timeline of people you follow, and the ability to search posts.
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Threads is about to add several "obvious missing features" that will help the week-old app better compete with Twitter, Adam Mosseri – head of Instagram – said in a Threads post on Tuesday.

That includes a timeline that shows posts from people you follow, a button to edit posts, and the ability to search for posts.

"We're clearly way out over our skis on this, but the team is pumped to start shipping improvements this week," Mosseri added.

The Meta executive, who seems to be taking charge of Threads, has been pretty active on the app in recent days, hinting at other upcoming, lower-priority additions like hashtags, trending topics, viewing liked posts, and improving the desktop app.

Meta's app is supposed to be compatible with ActivityPub — the decentralized system of servers that powers the likes of Mastodon — but that's also not yet been implemented.

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The reason for this scarcity, Mosseri said, is that the company wanted to get Threads out quickly.

When Threads appeared on app stores for pre-download last week, Twitter was embroiled in its most recent controversy after Elon Musk announced a temporary limit on how many posts a user could view.

Meta's chief product officer previously told an all-hands meeting that Threads would be "sanely run" in an apparent jibe at Musk — prompting cheers from staff, The Verge reported.

So when Mosseri posts about worrying that "the window of opportunity was closing on us," it sounds like he could be referring to capitalizing on Twitter's recent missteps.

"Timing is everything in life," he said in another post. "It felt like we had to get it out there to get a sense for if people were even interested sooner rather than later."

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Despite it lacking these key features – as well as being unavailable to the 447 million people living in the European Union — Meta's "Twitter Killer" has already reached 100 million users. The app owes much of its success to its connection to Instagram, which has more than two billion active users. These users can easily sign up through the Instagram app and link their two profiles.

Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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