Threads is sometimes criticized for not prioritizing real-time content in its recommendations. Now, in an apparent effort to address that need, Meta is adding status indicators to show when a particular user is online.
This optional feature, called “Activity Status,” displays a green bubble next to a person’s profile picture when they’re online. According to an update from Instagram head Adam Mosseri, the metric is intended to help users find “people they want to engage with in real time.” “We hope knowing when your employees are online will make the conversation easier.”
This is an interesting choice for a platform that doesn’t yet have direct messaging capabilities. Indicators like this are more common in chat apps like Discord (and Instagram, which has a robust DM feature, also has a similar feature). However, Meta has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of bringing in-app messaging to Threads, and the app’s head of product recently told Business Insider that there are no plans to add DMs to the app.
This feature also doesn’t exactly address the desire of many users for feeds that are more focused on real-time information and conversations. Instead, Meta offers status indicators as a way to find users who are currently active on the service, as a way to encourage conversations that are more likely to result in timely responses. But without a clear way to find people with green bubbles next to their profile pictures, it’s unclear how easy this will actually be.
