Mark Zuckerberg
, CEO of
Meta
, announced in a post on
Threads
that the app will soon begin testing a new feature in the United States. This feature will show users a list of
trending conversation topics
that are
popular among other Threads users
.
The "today's top topics" list will appear on Threads' search page and For You feed. This will help users discover
timely subjects
that people are currently discussing on the platform. Zuckerberg said that this is an initial small-scale test of the feature focused on helping users connect to conversations around buzzworthy topics.
Threads’ “today’s top topics” will use learning algorithms to determine specific trends based on
user engagement
, said Instagram head Adam Mosseri. The algorithm considers how many people discuss a specific topic and how many have interacted with posts about it.
Meta will have a team of content specialists to ensure that topics featured on their platforms are not in violation of community guidelines, are not duplicative, and are not nonsensical or misleading. Users can also flag problematic content.
Even though Instagram will not recommend political content to users on their feeds, it will still show political topics in the Threads’ “today’s top topics” section. A spokesperson for Meta told TechCrunch that the topics displayed on the platform are not personalised recommendations but timely and relevant topics intended to keep users informed. So, political content is allowed on their platform, except if it violates their Community Guidelines or other applicable integrity policies.
Threads’ users have long awaited the addition of a "today's top topics" trending list to the platform. However, the feature has now been launched as a small test in the US and could expand to more countries in the future, Zuckerberg notes.
English (US) ·