Threads Trials AI-Driven ‘Today’s Topics’ Feature in the US, Showcasing Popular Trends: A Look into its Functionality
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Announces Expansion of Threads’ ‘Today’s Topics’ Feature to More Countries in the Near Future.Threads is finally testing a feature that has been highly requested by users ever since the app launched last year. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the platform is testing a new Today’s topics section, which will show the topics which have the highest engagement. The feature is based on an artificial intelligence (AI) system, and will work in real-time. It is currently only available in the US, to select users. Today’s topics appear to be similar to the Trending page on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Zuckerberg stated in a Threads post that once the feature was tuned up, it will be rolled out in more countries and more languages. Instagram Head Adam Mosseri also shared a post where he detailed how Today’s topics will work. He said, “Today’s topics on Threads will be on the search page and in the For You feed. The topics are determined by our AI systems based on what people are engaging with right now on Threads.” Mosseri also shared screenshots of how it will appear on the app.
The search page addition is visually somewhat similar to X’s Trending page. However, there are certain differences. On Threads, the trending topics do not require a hashtag or a tag to be included. The topics are seen as plain text, with a heading and what appears to be a top post discussing the topic. As per Mosseri, the heading and the subjects themselves are being picked by AI. As a result, users will not have to see confusing hashtags which sometimes do not reveal the actual topic.
In addition to its placement on the For You page, the ‘Today’s Topics’ feature also appears in a dedicated section presented in a carousel format between posts. This layout closely resembles the Threads posts section seen within the Instagram app. As depicted in screenshots shared by Mosseri, the section showcases a small rectangular box containing the heading and top post.
Threads has recently initiated testing of another feature, allowing users to bookmark posts. Similar to the functionality on Instagram and X, users can simply tap the ‘Save’ button to add posts to the ‘Saved’ section. This section can be accessed by tapping the icon with two horizontal lines (Settings) located within the user’s profile.
