Threads is sometimes criticized for not prioritizing real-time content in its recommendations. Meta now adds status indicators that can show when a particular user is online to address this need.
An optional feature called “Activity Status” will show a green bubble next to someone’s profile picture when they’re online. The indicator is designed to help users find “real-time contacts”. From Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram. “We hope knowing when your people are online makes conversations easier.”
It’s an interesting choice for a platform that still lacks direct messaging capabilities. Such metrics are more common in chat apps like Discord (Instagram, which has powerful DM capabilities, has a similar feature). But Meta has repeatedly said it doesn’t want to bring in-app messaging to Threads with the app’s product manager. Business Insider There are no plans to add DM to the app.
This feature also doesn’t fully meet many users’ desires for a feed that is more focused on real-time information and conversations. Instead, Meta offers status indicators as a way to search for users currently active on the service to encourage conversations that are more likely to receive timely responses. But without a clear way to find people with a green bubble next to their profile picture, it’s unclear how easy this will actually be.
