{"id":19268,"date":"2024-11-27T17:41:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T17:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19268"},"modified":"2024-11-27T17:41:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T17:41:22","slug":"metas-threads-is-developing-its-own-take-on-blueskys-starter-packs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19268","title":{"rendered":"Meta\u2019s Threads is developing its own take on Bluesky\u2019s \u2018Starter Packs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hoping to quell some of the momentum behind social network Bluesky<\/a>, a competitor to X and Meta\u2019s Threads, Meta is developing a feature that takes inspiration from one of Bluesky\u2019s more popular additions: the concept of \u201cStarter Packs,\u201d or hand-curated lists of suggested users that help newcomers find people to follow. Meta\u2019s version of these Starter Packs will also suggest profiles that are \u201chandpicked by people on Threads,\u201d according to screenshots of the feature, which is still in development.<\/p>\n

Unlike Threads, which is built off the back of Instagram\u2019s existing social graph, Bluesky needed a way to quickly and easily connect new users to others in its community whose posts they may find interesting. Instead of importing users\u2019 address books, the startup introduced the concept of \u201cStarter Packs<\/a>,\u201d which are curated lists of recommended users that anyone in the community can make. <\/p>\n

These lists can center around topics of interest, geographies, industries, fan groups, languages, or anything else. <\/p>\n

The feature has become so popular there are now websites, like Blueskystarterpack.com<\/a>, that organize everyone\u2019s Bluesky Starter Packs into a searchable database. Starter Packs can also often be found shared by others in the Bluesky feed and are available as a tab on users\u2019 profiles. (There\u2019s also a TechCrunch Starter Pack<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

Of course, Threads doesn\u2019t necessarily need to create a Starter Pack-like feature, since it\u2019s already able to connect users to accounts they follow on Instagram and can leverage other signals from Meta\u2019s family of apps to infer users\u2019 interests when suggesting others to follow in Threads\u2019 user interface. <\/p>\n

However, Meta may feel threatened by how popular the process of building and sharing Starter Packs has become on Bluesky, allowing people to instantly form connections and feel a part of a growing community. <\/p>\n

Technologist and reverse engineer Chris Messina recently discovered<\/a> that Threads appears to be designing its own Starter Pack alternative. The feature can be accessed by entering a string of code in Safari on iOS that points to a new feature called \u201cRecommended Follow Lists.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"
Image Credits:<\/strong>Chris Messina on Threads (opens in a new window)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the screen that pops up, Threads offers lists of \u201cprofiles to follow\u201d where various suggested user lists would be made available. In the current test, only one suggested user list was shown: a list called \u201cNBA Threads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The screenshot attributed the NBA list\u2019s creation to an individual Threads user, indicating that the lists themselves would be built by people on Threads, not the company itself.<\/p>\n

Meta was asked for comment on the new development but a response was not immediately provided.<\/p>\n

TechCrunch was able to test the feature, per Messina\u2019s instructions, and was also able to make it appear for us on iOS. This doesn\u2019t mean that Threads will definitely launch the feature to the public, but it\u2019s clearly something being explored.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Meta has increasingly behaved as if it sees Bluesky as a threat. <\/p>\n

The company publicly disputed third-party data<\/a> that found that Bluesky was narrowing the gap with Threads, and then proceeded to roll out other Bluesky-inspired features like custom feeds<\/a> and the ability to change your default feed<\/a> from the algorithmic \u201cFor You\u201d feed to something else. It also adjusted its own algorithm<\/a> to start showing more content from accounts you follow.<\/p>\n

In addition, following the U.S. elections, Threads began circulating a reminder<\/a> that you could adjust your political content settings. The move came after backlash over its earlier decision<\/a> to limit political content from being recommended across the app and on Instagram \u2014 a choice that pushed some users to adopt Bluesky instead.<\/p>\n

This week, Meta also announced that Threads added 35 million new users<\/a> in November so far. It was an obvious response to the ongoing coverage of Bluesky\u2019s rapid growth<\/a>, which has seen the company go from over 9 million users in September to now nearly 23 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instagram head Adam Mosseri admitted on Threads<\/a> that Meta had shipped \u201ca few things\u201d on the app without testing them first, in response to a post about Bluesky\u2019s competitive threat. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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Source: <\/em> techcrunch.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoping to quell some of the momentum behind social network Bluesky, a competitor to X and Meta\u2019s Threads, Meta is developing a feature that takes inspiration from one of Bluesky\u2019s more popular additions: the concept of \u201cStarter Packs,\u201d or hand-curated lists of suggested users that help newcomers find people to follow. Meta\u2019s version of these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}