A new “activity status” feature will be rolled out on Meta’s social media platform, Threads. Using this feature, users will be able to see when their connections are online. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced the same in a post on Threads, claiming that the new update would help enhance real-time engagement between users.
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Here’s the good news: users can turn off this feature to keep their online status to themselves. Only those who have turned on the feature will know when other users are online. Since launching in 2022, Threads has yet to compete with X, formerly Twitter, over real-time content and trending topics. In this regard, X has succeeded in streaming live responses to such significant events as award shows and breaking news that most users tend to follow. However, it marks a strategic move taken by the new network toward shaping real-time engagement in Threads.
Activity status is another indicator that reflects the current absence of the direct messaging feature on Threads.
The activity status feature is one of those features that apparently addresses the current absence of direct messaging on Threads. An activity status feature is a glaring omission on X, where users can initiate conversations quickly through direct messages, which they cannot do on Threads. Mosseri said that with this feature in place, it will encourage more natural discussions on the platform because users will know when friends are online.
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Nevertheless, only some enjoy this activity status feature. In fact, this kind of visibility feature is most commonly found on messaging applications, such as Facebook Messenger and Discord, and not on social networking sites like X. Based on Mosseri’s post, many users would love to see direct messaging as the ad; they point out that an activity status without being able to send messages or communicate directly is meaningless.
Some researchers have also highlighted the issue of users’ lack of safety. For harassment victims, online activity has to be disclosed in court, which could exacerbate unwanted attention to trolls and other problematic users.
The rollout of the activity status feature begins today, but it will likely take a while for all users to see it. Mosseri did not specify exactly how to disable it but stated that one may need to scroll through the settings to do so themselves.
Threads continues to build its platform to bring more interaction with a new feature: threads. It began to reach out to increase user engagement while raising important concerns over privacy and safety in the digital world.
