Threads will now showcase Alternative Feed at the top of the Main Feed

Threads is introducing another Bluesky-inspired feature, allowing your different feeds to stay visible on the home screen. This makes it easier to switch between your “Following” feed, “For You” recommendations, or any of your custom lists.

As shown in this example shared by IG/Threads head Adam Mosseri, instead of tapping the Threads icon at the top of the feed to access alternative feed options, they will now be displayed directly on the screen. You can also easily swipe between them.

As shown in this example shared by IG/Threads head Adam Mosseri, instead of tapping the Threads icon at the top of the feed to access alternative feed options, they will now be displayed directly on the screen. You can also easily swipe between them.

This change also means that the current Threads feature for indicating “Like” or “See less” by swiping left or right on a post will be removed.

According to Threads:

“Some of you have asked about swiping on posts. Now, tap the heart to like a post if you want to see more like it. If you want to see less of something, tap the three-dot menu, then “Not interested.”

Threads is reverting to more traditional social media features instead of relying on swipes as indicators. Not many users likely engaged with this swipe function, as it wasn’t a widely known or intuitive interface.

After months of user requests for a default Following feed, a more effective follower growth process, and enhanced search capabilities, Threads has rolled out all of these changes within just a few weeks. This push has been driven by Bluesky and the growing attention towards the decentralized social app, which is seen as a Twitter alternative.

The U.S. election appears to have been a turning point, with many users finding that Threads’ algorithm-driven feeds were ineffective for staying updated on the latest news. This is because Threads optimizes for engagement rather than timeliness and actively suppresses political content. So, when major political events dominate discussions, Threads falls short, prompting more users to explore Bluesky.

What many have discovered, especially journalists is that it’s easier to build an audience and gain reach for news content on Bluesky.

This makes sense, as Bluesky’s ability to default to the “Following” feed encourages users to follow others, thereby populating their feed. In contrast, Threads’ reliance on algorithmic recommendations makes following less significant, as the algorithm is designed to surface the best content based on your interests.

Bluesky also doesn’t suppress links or political content, which is appealing to writers and publishers who use social platforms not only for engagement but to drive referral traffic.

This highlights why Meta’s entertainment-focused, non-political, algorithm-driven approach, which works well on Facebook and Instagram, is unlikely to succeed on Threads.

A key factor in building a Twitter competitor is recognizing that only a small percentage of Twitter users ever actively posted on the platform. The majority of users simply consumed content passively. 80% of Twitter users, on average, never liked, commented, posted, or engaged in any way. They primarily used the app to stay updated with the latest news.

This was Twitter’s strength—keeping users up-to-date on real-time developments across various topics like sports, politics, business, and TV shows. Key voices shared their insights, and dedicated followers tuned in. While Twitter never reached the same audience size as Facebook or Instagram, its influence remained significant because its content spread to other platforms.

The crucial point is that when trying to build a platform like Twitter, you’re catering to that active segment of users who keep the app vibrant. Right now, for many of these key users, Bluesky holds more appeal.

Does having more followers mean more reach? Maybe not, but that’s not the primary concern. Active users are more focused on building their audience and sharing links or discussing topics without worrying about reach limitations. Bluesky offers this freedom, and although it’s still much smaller than Threads, the Threads team needs to recognize the unique value of real-time, social apps, separate from its other platforms.

Bluesky seems to have triggered this realization, and now we wait to see if Threads can reclaim the title of the “trending app of the moment”.

Source: Social Media Today

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