Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is testing a new feature on the Thread app. This under-trial feature will enable users to initiate new messages from the Threads app itself. The platform missed this feature since its inception. If it is rolled out then it will give users an option to message other users on the platform. A Meta spokesperson while talking to Engadget confirmed the availability of this feature and said that the company was “testing the ability to send a message from Threads to Instagram.”
The feature relies on Instagram’s inbox but, users can still initiate messages from the app. One will be able to see this at the top of the user's profile where they earlier used to see the ‘mention’ button. Now in place of the 'mention' button, the new button is labelled ‘message’.
ALSO READ | The Spread Of AI & Its Side Effect On Mankind: Types Of Crimes That Employ AI In Its Functioning
Threads Messages: Availability, Possibility Of Becoming Second Instagram
As of now, this feature is available to some Threads users. If you are wondering whether Threads will become the new Instagram then it might not happen. Threads does not have its own inbox. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has reiterated numerous times that the company doesn't want to create a separate inbox for Threads. He added that mirroring the Instagram inbox in the Threads app will lead to challenges such as notification routing and redundant message threads in the two apps.
Threads does not offer a full Direct Messaging feature but, it allows its users to send messages without switching to the other platform, Instagram. Notably, to check or respond to those messages, one will have to open the Instagram app.
On a sidenote, Meta has also introduced the ‘trending now’ feature in Threads. This feature will highlight the sorts of conversations that are happening on the app. The feature was announced by Mark Zuckerberg earlier via a Threads post.