Meta Threads Hits 500 Million Monthly Users and Adds New Features

Meta’s Threads has crossed 500 million monthly active users, marking a major growth milestone for the Instagram-linked social platform nearly three years after its launch.

The company announced the figure as it began rolling out several new features designed to make Threads more community-focused and give users more control over what they see in their feeds.

Threads, launched in July 2023 as Meta’s text-based social platform, has grown into one of the company’s key products for real-time public conversations. The latest milestone shows Meta’s push to position Threads as a stronger competitor in the social media space, especially for users looking for topic-based discussions, creator updates, live reactions, and news-style conversations.

Communities Get a Bigger Role

One of the biggest updates is the wider rollout of Communities, a feature built around shared interests and public conversations. Meta is adding a dedicated Communities Hub, making it easier for users to discover and join topic-based spaces.

The update also includes custom community icons, Community Progress, and expanded Community Champions, which highlight active contributors inside specific communities.

Meta is also testing Local Communities, starting with selected markets including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. These local spaces are expected to help users follow conversations linked to language, region, and local interests.

The move suggests Threads is shifting beyond a basic posting platform and trying to build stronger user habits around repeat engagement inside interest-based groups.

 

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Your Algo Adds More Feed Control

Meta is also introducing Your Algo, a new private feed-control feature that allows users to tell Threads what they want to see more or less of.

Unlike public algorithm feedback tools, Your Algo works privately. Users can adjust their feed preferences for selected topics for one, three, or seven days.

The feature is initially rolling out in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

For users, the update may help reduce unwanted recommendations and make the Threads feed feel more personalized. For Meta, it gives the platform another way to improve engagement while responding to growing criticism around algorithm-driven social feeds.

Threads Strengthens Its Social Media Push

Threads’ 500 million monthly user milestone comes as Meta continues to build the platform into a larger space for public discussion, creators, and real-time updates.

The new features show that Meta is focusing on three areas: stronger communities, more user control, and easier discovery of relevant conversations.

While Threads still faces strong competition from other social platforms, its rapid growth gives Meta a larger base to test features, attract creators, and expand its role in online conversations.

The latest rollout also signals that Meta wants Threads to become more than an Instagram companion app. With communities, live chats, local spaces, and algorithm controls, Threads is moving closer to becoming a standalone platform for daily discussion and breaking conversations.

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