Threads has just added a new feature that people have been crying out for ever since Meta launched its rival app to X (formerly Twitter) earlier this month.
The new Following tab for Threads’ iOS and Android apps offers a chronological feed of posts only from people who you’re following, so you’ll no longer have to waste time trawling through seemingly random posts from folks you’re not particularly interested in.
Clearly in listening mode as it seeks to pull across as many users as possible from X, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, responding on Threads to a user asking for the Following feature, said: “Ask and you shall receive.”
How to use Threads’ Following feature
For now at least, Threads still opens with the original For You feed featuring a hodgepodge of posts.
You can access the Following feed by selecting the home icon at the bottom of the display, or the Threads logo at the top.
If the Following tab doesn’t show up, make sure you have the latest version of Threads on your device. If it’s still not appearing, then be patient, it’ll be coming very soon (Zuckerberg said Threads has “started” rolling out the feature).
Opening on the algorithmic For You tab is something the old Twitter app used to do as a way of trying to increase engagement on the platform, but widespread user annoyance at having to hit the Following tab every time you opened the app persuaded Twitter to set it so that the same feed opens as the one you were last on. Perhaps Threads will take the same route before too long.
For folks coming from X, the chronological feed is a must-have if Threads is ever to act as a replacement. X users unhappy with the way Elon Musk has been overhauling the app since he acquired the business in October have been looking for an alternative social media app. Mastodon and Bluesky have yet to take off in a big way, while Threads, thanks to a large extent to its close integration with Instagram, received a huge amount of interest at launch. But it’s still too early to say if it’s going to last.
Threads was pretty bare bones when it launched in early July, but the Instagram developers who built the app have been pushing out a number of updates to incorporate new features, with Tuesday’s addition sure to be warmly welcomed.
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