Threads is rolling out trending topics to all users in the US

The rollout of the “trending now” feature on Threads, Instagram’s Twitter-like app, marks a significant expansion of its capabilities for users in the U.S. Initially tested with a select group, the feature is now widely available, aiming to provide users with an easy way to discover what’s currently popular and being discussed on the platform.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, highlighted the addition of trending topics as a means to enhance community engagement on Threads. By surfacing timely conversations, Threads aims to offer a real-time sense of community, aligning it more closely with platforms like X.

Trending topics on Threads are determined by Meta’s AI systems, taking into account factors such as engagement levels and the number of users discussing a particular topic. However, the feature currently displays only five trending topics at a time, possibly to mitigate safety and spam concerns.

While Meta has stated that Threads won’t actively recommend political content, it doesn’t filter out political topics from trending discussions. During events like President Biden’s State of the Union address, political chatter dominated the trending topics on Threads. Although Meta has sought to distance itself from political content on its platforms, the approach to politics in Threads’ trends feature may evolve over time.