The move marks a clear step in positioning Threads as a competitor to X ( social media).
This update will add a separate message tab in the app, allowing users to exchange direct messages with their followers or each other's followers from Instagram.
In the initial phase, only users over 18 years old were able to use the feature. Sending messages is also limited to those who have followed you or each other's Instagram followers.
Threads doesnt currently support group messaging, but Meta says its working on the feature. Initial limitations make thu boxes on Threads not as flexible as Instagram, but this is still a big step forward compared to having to switch to Instagram thu boxes as before.
At first, Meta's leaders, especially Adam Mosseri, who is at the top of Instagram, strongly opposed integrating messages into Threads. He said that having two overlapping conversation flows with the same person on two apps is not ideal.
However, as Threads has surpassed 350 million users, that view is gradually losing its reality. Meta said that more than a third of active Threads users follow different accounts every day than Instagram, suggesting the platform is forming its own community.
Two years after its launch, Threads is being more clearly defined by Meta as a platform counterweight to X. While Mosseri previously claimed that Threads " Was not intended to replace Twitter", Meta has now changed its strategy, including testing tools to help users find content creators who had followed X.
At the same time, Meta is also promoting real-time news and interaction by increasing the prominence of trending topics and linking news in content suggestions. Today's new update also adds a highlighter feature, making trends clearer on the user's news feed.
