Meta's Threads Gets Three New Features This Week; Web Version In Development

Threads, the social media rival to Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), is struggling to retain the users that it gained immediately after launch. It was earlier reported that Meta is planning new strategies as it has lost more than half of its user base in the weeks following its launch. Meta has now introduced several new features for Threads this week, which will let users share posts directly on Instagram DMs. The service also gets custom alt-text for photos and videos, and a mention button to tag someone's account in a post. Moreover, Meta is also working on an early version of the desktop app internally, and will be soon rolling it out globally. 

In a Threads post on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced three new features for the app this week. While Threads earlier allowed its post to be shared as Stories on Instagram, users will now also be able to share posts from Threads via Instagram DMs.

Another new feature will now allow users to add alternative text to photos and videos. Users can write captions and descriptions on photos and videos according to their preference.

Finally, the third feature makes it easy for users to mention someone's account directly on their Threads post. Direct mention is a feature available in most social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Meanwhile, Instagram head Adam Mosseri also shared a post on his account, sharing the new updates. Apart from the above-mentioned updates, Threads will now also let users keep a tab of threads they've liked and sort the accounts that they are following, both through their profile settings.

Threads now also supports rel=me links to make user verification easier on platforms like Mastodon. This means that users will now be able to add their Threads account link to other platforms. 

Threads was launched on July 5 as Meta's alternative to Elon Musk's X. While the app is already available as mobile app on iOS and Android devices, Zuckerberg announced in a Threads post that the app will be getting a web version “in the next few weeks". Instagram head Mosseri also confirmed the development in a Threads post on Wednesday that the company is working on an early version internally. With some changes, the web version will soon be rolled out to users. Going forward, Meta is expected to add several other features to the app to regain its lost followers.