Threads is getting some new feature updates, inching it a little closer to the Twitter clone that was promised. The updated features will include a followers list, the option to subscribe to unfollowed users, and a revised “follows” tab, Threads developer Cameron Roth, said in a Threads post. Unfortunately, the most important tab is still missing.
Users will see the updates on their profiles throughout Wednesday but may need to restart the app to see them come through immediately. Otherwise, Roth said in his post that users will have to wait until the end of the day for the app to automatically update.
While Roth says the app should function better than before, the new “Follows” tab is different than expected. Instead of allowing users to view posts from only those they follow, as is the case on Twitter, the tab displays a basic list of the accounts that follow you.
Followers were previously listed under the “All” tab on a profile’s activity page but the new update has users wondering why the “Follows” tab doesn’t show a feed of posts solely from those they follow.
The feature update comes mere weeks after Meta’s Threads app took off, reporting a record 100 million downloads in only five days, prompting an aggressive attack from Twitter owner Elon Musk who threatened to file a lawsuit against Meta for allegedly copying Twitter’s data. Musk’s longtime attorney, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying the company had engaged in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
In the letter, he claimed Meta had hired former Twitter employees who illegally retained data and information and transferred it to Threads. He claimed the employees were “deliberately assigned” to develop a “copycat” app, but Meta Communication Director Andy Stone responded to the letter on Threads, writing: “To be clear: No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee – that’s just not a thing.”
Despite, and perhaps in spite of, Musk’s complaints, the team at Threads is still promising to roll out other features similar to Twitter, including the much-desired following feed, not to be confused with the “Follows” tab. Adam Mosseri, the head of Threads, said in a post last week that the company is “starting to prioritize the obvious missing features, like a following feed, the edit button, and post search.” He continued, “We’re clearly way out over our skis on this, but the team is pumped to start shipping improvements this week.”