Okay, this one may be something, or it could be nothing, at least not what some expect.
Back in May, app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi uncovered a back-end code element on Threads which refers to a section called “Your Feeds”.
As you can see in this example, “Your Feeds” would enable users to easily access different elements of the app, including your main “Following” feed, a list of posts that you’ve saved, posts that you’ve Liked, etc.
Some got excited about this, anticipating that this could become the home for variable feed algorithms, so you could govern your own in-app experience, or lists, so that you could switch across to alternate Threads feeds based on different topic-based groups of users.
But the Threads team dismissed the finding, saying that it’s just another way to access these elements.
But it is still working on it.
As you can see in these new screenshots, shared by Radu Oncescu, Threads is still developing the UI for these alternate “feeds”, which would still only give you access to your liked and saved posts.
But it does seem like an opportunity to provide further customization of the Threads experience.
Right now, on the desktop version of the app, you can already set up streams of your liked and saved posts, along with “For You”, “Following”, “Search” strings, “Your Activity” and your profile.
This in-app “Your Feeds” display is essentially a mirror of the same, but Threads could also look to implement list functionality, providing more ways to interact with different topic elements. And potentially, custom algorithmic timelines as well, based on your algorithm of choice.
Yet, both seem somewhat unlikely, or at least less of a focus for the Threads team.
Back in February, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said that lists, while they are on the blueprint of things to build for the app, probably aren’t as big of a deal as people think.
“My honest take is that requested features like lists, an edit button, a following feed, trending, and hashtags are all good to build, but none noticeably grow Threads or Threads usage. We’ll continue to build them because it’s good to build features that your most engaged users are excited about, but it’s hard to prioritize them when the measurable impact is negligible.”
So lists seemingly are coming, and they could fit into this new display, where they seem like a perfect fit. But they might not be coming any time soon.
In terms of variable algorithms, which have been a key tenet of the new wave of decentralized social apps, that would also seem to fit with the broader vision for Threads, in aligning with fediverse sharing. But there’s a lot of complexity here, and I don’t think that would be on the cards for the Threads team as yet.
And even if it was, I suspect that the majority of users won’t actually be interested in variable feed algorithms, unless they can be easily explained and implemented.
Which is also where this display could fit, but right now, I’m not sure this is anything more than a placeholder UI that could become something, but might also just be a mobile interpretation of the web functionality.
So, read into it as you will, but I don’t think this is the list/alternative algorithm function you’re looking for, at least not yet.
