Threads was a unicorn in the vacuum left behind by a Musk-infested Twitter turned X. But as the excitement for the sterile and lifeless platform inevitably waned for users, Meta’s newest trick to give the illusion of Threads’ growth is to just jam its posts into Facebook feeds.
Thread users noticed embedded posts from Threads appearing in their Facebook feeds, TechCrunch reported Thursday citing a tweet from social media consultant Matt Navarra. The posts show up in a carousel titled “For You on Threads.” This appears to be a new development with the outlet claiming that several users have noticed the feature in the last day. It’s not immediately clear how exactly this would count towards Meta’s goal of growing Threads aside from increasing awareness of the platform.
Meta did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the new push.
Meta introduced a similar carousel into Instagram feeds this past August, and it’s been an incredibly annoying experience on the platform ever since. The platform was billed as a Twitter/X replacement once Meta noticed that users expressed their discontent ship after Musk took over last year. Meta raced to launch the platform in July 2022 after Musk’s X began to experience turbulence with its user base, primarily in the wake of the name change, much the same way ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky did.
Since then, Threads has felt like it’s lived many lives, several of which include being a hollow and apolitical shell of what it could be. Most notably, Meta’s Head of Instagram billed Threads as a platform that will not promote news—much the same way Musk’s X just recently killed headlines on the platform. Threads also blocked keywords related to Covid-19, in an action that reiterates its anti-politics stance.