Mark Zuckerberg teases default Threads feeds as X users flock to rival Bluesky

Threads is testing out new features on the platform.

Threads is stepping up its game by giving users the power to pick their default feed as it battles to keep pace with Bluesky’s explosive growth.

Meta’s chief, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a Threads post on Monday that it was “testing the option” for users to decide whether they want a “For You,” “following,” or customized feed. “Interested to see how and if people use this,” he added.

The move has come as the Meta-owned platform seeks to capitalize on a wave of users leaving Elon Musk’s X and compete with a surge in interest at the rival social network Bluesky, which is winning over millions of new users.

Bluesky says it now has more than 22.6 million users, up from 13 million in October. Droves of X users recently left the platform because of concerns over hate speech and misinformation.

Bluesky is encountering a fresh set of challenges amid its growth boom. Its chief operating officer, Rose Wang, told B-17 last week that its 20-person team was in “firefighting mode” as its user growth surpassed its own projections. It’s even had to expedite getting additional server capacity at its data centers as it anticipates further growth.

The company is also seeing an “uptick in harmful content” with the surge in users, it said Monday in a post. To tackle this, it’s making some short-term decisions to recall posts, which has resulted in “over-enforcement and temporary suspensions for multiple users,” it said.

Platformer’s Casey Newton reported that Bluesky had eight confirmed cases of child-sexual-abuse material on Monday, compared with just two cases throughout 2023. Aaron Rodericks, Bluesky’s head of trust and safety, told Platformer it was increasing the number of its content moderators fourfold to 100.

Threads has recently made a series of updates to its platform that seem to be driven by heightened competition from Bluesky. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said last week that Instagram would prioritize content from people users follow, which in turn would mean they’d see less recommended content.

Mosseri also said Instagram was testing a few “long-overdue improvements,” including the ability for users to search for posts from a specific date or from a particular account. It’s also set to give AI-generated summaries of trending topics in its “Trending Now” feed.

Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17 made outside normal working hours.