If Threads is going to take on Twitter/X, it needs to focus more on trending topics and make it easier for users to engage in real-time conversation around major events.
Many users have criticized Threads for not offering trending topics, and for this reason, they still rely on X for updates on sports, world events, and celebrity news.
Threads lacks a Trending Topics display and has only begun testing topic tags in select regions. Additionally, there is no way to sort search results chronologically, making it difficult to keep up with news stories as they unfold in-stream.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri recently provided insight into why Threads isn’t focused on enabling this just yet. After further consideration, Mosseri provided a more detailed response, explaining that having a comprehensive list of every post with a specific word in chronological order could be exploited by spammers and bots.
Therefore, Threads is limiting the use of topic tags to one per post in order to prevent spam, despite the possibility of missing out on some posts that should be taken down. Mosseri’s comments reflect Threads’ revised approach to content ranking, part of Meta’s broader effort to make Threads a more positive experience than Twitter and X.
With Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambition to adapt Threads into the next billion-user app, it seems that the future of the platform could be highly engaging.