Threads

If you’ve suddenly been logged out of the Instagram and Threads apps, it’s not just you. There’s a bug affecting a number of users of Meta’s platforms on Thursday night, causing their accounts to be logged out for no reason. Read on as we share more details about the bug.

We’ve known for a while that Threads is joining the fediverse, and parent company Meta has now provided a preview of how things will work.

The concept of the fediverse is to network together individual social media platforms, such that you can post once on one of them, and then share your post on other services …

Yesterday’s global meta outage seemingly took out the company’s entire network, with users unable to access Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Threads, and Quest headsets.

The outage lasted between one and two hours for most users, and while everything now appears back to normal, questions are naturally being asked about what went wrong …

Threads, Meta’s microblogging platform, was launched in July 2023. Since then, the Threads team has been working on a lot of new features – and soon users will get a huge one. An engineer working for Meta confirmed that the Threads API will become available in June.

We recently reported on Threads, Meta’s microblogging platform, rolling out the Trending feature. While this is only available to some users in the US, users around the world will soon be able to quickly access the camera and even save drafts in the app.

We reported last year about Threads working on a Trending feature so that users can find posts on the most discussed topics on the platform at the moment. Although the feature is yet to be released to everyone, Threads is now making the Trending feature available to users in the US.

It’s been a while since Meta’s microblogging platform, Threads, released its keyword search feature to users around the world. However, one huge downside is that Threads search doesn’t let users see search results in reverse chronological order. But that’s changing now, as the latest Threads update adds an option to show the latest search results.

Update: A Meta spokesperson told 9to5Mac that the feature is an “internal prototype” that was “accidentally made available for a small number of people.”

Social network Threads has now launched in EU countries, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noting that this now opens it up to an additional 448M people. The company first teased this last week.

EU citizens will also be able to browse Threads without having to create an Instagram account – a move likely intended to placate antitrust regulators …

Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Threads is now testing integration with the fediverse, thanks to support for the ActivityPub protocol. In this current iteration of the integration, Zuckerberg says this means posts from Threads accounts will now be available on Mastodon, Pixelfed, and other services that use ActivityPub.

Threads is coming to the EU next week on December 14, according to a pair of teasers quietly launched by Instagram today. As spotted by The Verge, there’s a new countdown timer on the Threads website in the European Union, as well as a new “ticket” in the Instagram app teasing the launch.

Threads is expanding the availability of keyword search, a feature that makes it easy to find posts about specific topics. The feature could also help lay the groundwork for trending topics and other updates.

More than 100 brands have now ceased ads on X over antisemitic content allowed to propagate on the social network. They are following the example of companies like Apple and Disney, which made the decision early last week.

X itself had estimated that the financial hit could be around $11M, but the company’s own internal documents reveal that the total loss could be as high as $75M …

A Threads employee last month leaked a screenshot showing a trending topics feature in the app, which the company never announced. While Threads is yet to get trending topics, the platform is now rolling out tags (not hashtags) to users in Australia in preparation for offering trending topics.

When Threads was launched earlier this year, Meta decided to use the same credentials as Instagram so that users wouldn’t have to create another account to use its new microblogging platform. However, because of this, users couldn’t delete their Threads account without deleting their Instagram account. Luckily, Meta is finally changing that with an update.

Since Threads launched in July, Meta has increased the integration between it, Facebook, and Instagram. One example of this integration is that Instagram and Facebook now show in-app carousels of suggested content from Threads.

In response to feedback from Threads users, Meta is now adding the ability for users to opt out of having their posts included in these suggestions.

While people on Twitter (currently known as X) are quick to downplay the popularity of Threads, all indications are that the platform is thriving. During Meta’s quarterly earnings call today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered an update on the Threads, saying that the service has “just under” 100 million monthly active users.

Threads is working on a new feature that will let you delete your account without nuking your Instagram account, but it won’t be ready anytime soon. Meanwhile, new data forecasts where Meta’s competitor to X (formerly Twitter) will be by year’s end.

Meta has been trying to add much-requested features to Threads as quickly as possible. After launching keyword search earlier this month, the latest update to the Threads app now finally lets users switch between different accounts without having to log out and log in again.

Threads keyword search is “rolling out to most English and Spanish speaking countries today,” according to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg. Basic search functionality brings Threads one step closer being a fully featured social network.