This passage originates from *Sources* by Alex Heath, a specialized newsletter dedicated to analyzing developments in artificial intelligence and the broader technology industry. Distributed exclusively each week to subscribers of *The Verge*, it offers readers deeper context and insider insight into how major tech platforms are evolving.
By virtually every metric available, Meta’s Threads application experienced a remarkably strong year of expansion and adoption. The platform achieved the impressive distinction of being Apple’s second most-downloaded iOS application of the year—surpassed only by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The user base has grown to an extraordinary scale, encompassing approximately 400 million monthly active users and roughly 150 million daily participants who actively engage with the app’s content and conversations. As one observer aptly summarized, the enthusiasm for what Threads offers is undeniable: “There are consumers who are ravenous to consume the content.” This voracious appetite reflects a broader cultural moment where users crave immediacy, authenticity, and real-time dialogue in their digital interactions.
Much of Threads’ meteoric expansion can, however, still be traced back to the gravitational pull of Meta’s other flagship products, particularly Instagram and Facebook. According to Connor Hayes, the executive currently leading Threads, Meta has invested substantial effort in seamlessly integrating Threads’ presence into these established ecosystems. “We do a lot of work in Instagram and Facebook to show off what’s going on in Threads,” Hayes explained during a recent discussion. This strategy—or, as Hayes described it, the “playbook”—relies on cleverly surfacing personalized Threads posts within Instagram and Facebook feeds, enticing users to download Threads, and then gradually nurturing a habit so that engagement continues even without constant promotional nudges. Ultimately, the company hopes users will wake each morning with a natural instinct to open Threads, independent of any external reminders.
Hayes, who played a foundational role in launching Threads and officially became its head in September, has directed much of his energy toward articulating and refining the platform’s distinct identity. During our conversation, he noted that the long-term vision is to make Threads “the place on the internet to talk about what’s going on in the world.” In practical terms, this means cultivating communities of interest—what Hayes refers to as “verticals”—that encompass arenas such as sports, entertainment, and news. Each vertical aims to attract both creators who drive conversation and audiences who are eager to consume it, thus strengthening the feedback loop that fuels user activity.
When asked about competition, Hayes’ perspective extended well beyond direct rivals like X (formerly Twitter). He pointed out that Reddit provides a comparable form of discussion-centric activity reminiscent of Twitter’s early culture, while Discord fosters expansive conversation spaces organized around shared interests and communities. Although Hayes readily acknowledged that Twitter pioneered the format of real-time conversational social media, he emphasized that the present market is highly diversified and fiercely competitive. Many platforms now inhabit overlapping niches, each vying for dominance in this dynamic digital ecosystem.
Currently, Threads does not include a built-in mechanism for creators to earn direct revenue from their work. Instead, Hayes envisions Threads functioning as a powerful traffic and visibility channel—essentially a bridge that drives audiences to other platforms where creators can actually monetize their content. A clear illustration of this concept is found in the podcasting space: Threads has recently launched a feature that renders playback and episode links from services such as Spotify, enabling users to pin these links directly onto their profiles. This design allows creators to showcase and promote their work seamlessly. Hayes also expressed openness to establishing similar partnerships with other creator-focused ecosystems like Substack and Patreon. Nonetheless, he was explicit in clarifying that Threads has no immediate plans to implement paywalled content or pursue ad-revenue sharing models similar to those on YouTube.
Advertising, while inevitable, is being introduced with deliberate caution. The company has already begun testing commercial placements in four countries, including the United States. Hayes emphasized that this rollout is being handled gradually and strategically: “We are ramping the ad load up steadily over the course of the next year,” he said. Importantly, Meta intends to increase ad exposure only when it determines that doing so will not compromise user experience—ensuring that the platform’s value to consumers remains the top priority.
Threads has also started experimenting with innovative personalization tools aimed at giving users more agency over what appears in their feeds. One such experiment, currently being piloted in select countries, is a feature dubbed “Dear Algo.” This tool enables users to explicitly instruct the recommendation algorithm, asking to see more or less content from specific topics, and even to create prompts that others can reuse or modify. The customized feed adjusts dynamically to the chosen prompt for a period of three days. As Hayes humorously noted, following a crushing sports loss, “you can be like, don’t show me NFL content for three days”—but, by day four, most fans will likely be ready to reengage. Technologically, these capabilities are made possible by large language models (LLMs), which have dramatically improved the algorithm’s comprehension of context and nuance. Hayes observed that the algorithm no longer merely identifies that a post concerns basketball; it can discern that the content specifically references the 1998 NBA Finals or a particular player’s decisive shot. This unprecedented fine-tuning supports user-specific steering of content and has revealed fascinating levels of user specificity, such as prompts requesting “more football content, but not Patrick Mahomes.”
On the topic of federation—the ability to connect Threads with decentralized networks like Mastodon—Hayes clarified that while the feature remains supported, it is not presently a focal point. “It’s something that we’re supporting, it’s something that we’re maintaining, but it’s not the thing that we’re talking about that’s gonna help the app break out,” he said. He elaborated on the technical and organizational challenges of sustaining cross-platform compatibility over time, noting that companies must constantly weigh the trade-off between maintaining interoperability with a wider ecosystem and dedicating resources toward refining their own product’s unique value.
Another significant shift for Threads lies in its approach to timeliness. The platform was once criticized for promoting older content that no longer felt relevant, but that issue has been largely resolved. Hayes explained that the current algorithm prioritizes freshness, giving prominence to posts created within the past twenty-four hours. Even exceptionally good content that is four or five days old is now unlikely to appear in feeds, as the focus has moved firmly toward immediacy and relevance. Interestingly, while X has leaned heavily into courting journalists and media outlets, Threads has taken a different approach. Hayes made clear that the app does not place special emphasis on news as a standalone vertical; instead, it treats it as one of many content categories, shaped by creators who excel within it and audiences who eagerly engage. The platform does not intentionally suppress or “downrank” news content, but it is equally not positioning itself as a primary hub for journalism.
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Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/column/847806/head-of-threads-interview
