Social media algorithms are supposedly picking up what you’re putting down—that is to say, they’re designed to serve you with content you’ll like, based on what you’ve engaged with in the past. However, algorithms don’t always get it right. To address this, Meta’s Threads app is testing out a feature that lets you control your own feeds.
You Can Now Create Your Own Feed on Threads
While X (formerly Twitter) andX alternative, Bluesky, have offered the ability to establish personal feeds for some time, Meta’s Threads—another competitor to X—is only just starting to test such a feature.
Previously, Threads only offered a “For You” feed, controlled by its algorithm. While you’ll still see this algorithmic feed as your default when you log in, you may now also have the option to build a new feed.
How To Create a Custom Feed on Threads
To create your own feed, head over to theSearchtab, located on the bottom of the app on a mobile device, or on the left-hand side on a desktop. Then:
If you don’t see these options, you might not have access to the feature quite yet. According toZuckerberg’s post, Threads is only beginning to “test” this “way to create dedicated feeds.”
It will be interesting to see how this update affects the migration of users between the various text-based social platforms, with the leading competitors being X, Threads, and Bluesky. Beyond the ability to specify topics, people seem to be looking for control in other ways, such as in the order of posts.
Personally, I think we all have some nostalgia for the old days of Twitter, where we got to read posts only from the accounts we followed, in the order in which they were published.Disabling algorithmic feeds in favor of chronology is possible in some apps, but I guess for Threads that simplicity is too much to ask for in a time when an algorithmic order is far more addictive (and lucrative).
