UPDATE 9/8: Threads is expanding keyword search to "most English- and Spanish-speaking countries, [with] more to come soon," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says.
Instagram Head Adam Mosseri adds in a Broadcast Channel post that the rollout includes countries where "most people post in those languages—such as Argentina, India, Mexico, and the US—on both mobile and the web."
Original Story 8/30:It’s taken a while, but Threads is finally adding the ability to search for content on the social media platform. On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the news in a post that said: “Get excited —search is coming to Threads.”
Currently, you can only search for other user accounts on Threads. As a result, the search feature is limited to only helping you follow new people, rather than surfacing topics you’re interested in. That’s set to change as Threads tests the keyword search function. But in some bad news, Meta told PCMag the company is only testing the feature in Australia and New Zealand for now.
“The test begins today, with plans to expand to other English-speaking countries as soon as we can,” the company added. “We are actively listening to the community’s feedback and working on more features to improve the search experience.”
Rolling out the search feature could help Threads attract more users. The app initially saw massive growth when it first launched on July 5, but visits to the Twitter rival has since plummeted by possibly as much as 79%, according to internet traffic provider Similarweb.
App tracking firm Sensor Tower blames the drop in interest in Thread's failure to offer unique and traditional features standard to microblogging services. “While the platform added a chronological feed after its launch, it still lacked popular features like direct messaging and a proper explore/discover page. The absence of these elements could have played a role in weak user adoption and retention challenges,” Sensor Tower says.
Threads continues to lack both an explore/discover page, along with direct messaging and hashtags. But last week, the app finally began rolling out a desktop version of Threads, which could make it easier for users to access the social media platform throughout the day.