Meta's X rival Threads is rolling out a new “activity status” feature that lets you see when someone on your social network is online. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the feature in a thread post on Tuesday, saying the feature is intended to serve as a “helpful way to find people to interact with in real time.” .
Thankfully, you can turn off the setting and only users who have this feature turned on will be able to see that you're online.
Since its launch last year, Threads has lagged behind X (formerly Twitter) in surfacing real-time events and trends. Finding real-time responses and responses to live events like award shows or earthquakes is easier in X than in threads. With this new feature, Threads is looking to power real-time activity on the app.
Image credit: Thread
Activity status can also be seen as Threads' answer to the platform's lack of DM (direct messages). With X, when you want to start a conversation with someone, all you have to do is send a message. Threads can't do that, so Meta is looking for ways to encourage conversations on social networks. Mosseri said the company “hopes that knowing when employees are online will make conversations easier.”
Of course, activity status features are traditionally reserved for messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and Discord, not platforms like X, so everyone wants to let others know they're online. That's not true.
A quick look at the reactions to Mosseri's announcement post suggests that many users don't actually want this feature, with some requesting DM instead, and Activities if you can't message someone directly. It points out that the status function is meaningless.
Some say the feature could put some users at risk. For example, if you are being harassed by a troll, they may know that you are currently active on the platform and harass you further.
This feature is rolling out starting today, so you may not see it yet. Mosseri hasn't told users how to turn off this feature, but users will likely need to do so via the app's settings page.