Threads is Developing an API, Though it Stays Wary of the Influence of News Content

As Threads continues to steadily gain momentum, it’s also seeking to add more features to fuel more engagement, and essentially reach parity with X, and other social apps.

With a view to do this, it needs so as to add DMs, which it appears to be working on, and hashtags, one other highly requested feature, which Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has been lukewarm on providing.

But one other key element, for publishers at the least, is an API, which might then enable third-party platforms to schedule Threads posts, and facilitate more direct Threads posting options into their systems.

Gabe Rivera, the CEO of the highly influential Techmeme, has been calling for this for months, highlighting it as the important thing reason that Techmeme isn’t energetic within the app. Which is probably going true for a lot of other publishers and news distributors as well, and adding it could subsequently have a big effect on making Threads a more central home for content discovery, and related discussion, subsequently driving more growth for the app.

But Mosseri is just not so sure, and seems a bit of hesitant on expanding the app’s publisher focus.

In response to a recent query a couple of Threads API, Mosseri said that:

“We’re working on it. My concern is that it’ll mean quite a bit more publisher content and never way more creator content, however it still looks like something we’d like to get done.”

Mosseri further noted that he wants Threads to “concentrate on creators”, not on news publishers as such, as they, increasingly, are those that drive engagement.

“We concentrate on creators because they have a tendency to drive more engagement and cultural relevance, they’ve an outsized influence on public perception, and we consider they’ll turn into more essential over time as power continues to shift from institutions to individuals across industries.”

Which essentially is a reiteration of Mosseri’s comments within the early days of the app, that the Threads team won’t be seeking to amplify news content specifically, on account of the “scrutiny, negativity or integrity risks” that come together with it, despite the engagement advantages.

“There are good enough amazing communities – sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc – to make a vibrant platform without having to get into politics or hard news.”

Mosseri has since been pressed to make clear this stance, explaining that, up to now, Meta has “over-promised” news publishers, and essentially failed them in the long run by having to backtrack on various initiatives. Like, for instance, Facebook’s dedicated news tab, which it’s now within the means of removing, or its Watch video streaming hub, for which Meta had pushed publishers to share more video updates.

Shifts like this prompted newsrooms to, say, hire more video creation staff, who then needed to be let go when Meta eventually modified focus.

At the identical time, Meta’s own data shows that people have had enough of divisive news content and debates, which has seen many reduce their Facebook usage.

More recently, Meta’s been capable of reverse that trend by adding in additional AI-recommended content, largely in the shape of Reels, that are mostly focused on light-hearted, entertaining clips that align with user interests. That’s the important thing shift that Meta’s seeking to amplify inside Threads, though doing so in text form is one other challenge, while de-emphasizing news could also impede Threads growth.

Though Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly believes that that is the easiest way forward.

In a recent interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg explained that:

“A number of the conversation around social media is around information and the utility aspect, but I believe an equally essential a part of designing any product is the way it makes you are feeling, right? What’s the sort of emotional charge of it, and the way do you come away from that feeling? I believe Instagram is mostly sort of on the happier end of the spectrum. I believe Facebook is kind of in the center since it has happier moments, but then it also has kind of harder news and things like that that I believe are likely to just be more critical and perhaps, you recognize, make people see a number of the negative things which can be happening on this planet. And I believe Twitter indexes very strongly on just being quite negative and important.”

Zuckerberg’s view is that Twitter, now X, is basically fueled by divisive discussion and political debate, because that’s what its algorithm interprets as being of most interest to essentially the most people. However it doesn’t must be that way.

“I all the time just thought you might create a discussion experience that wasn’t quite so negative or toxic. I believe in doing so, it might actually be more accessible to a whole lot of people.”

So while many users are on the lookout for Threads to turn into a direct alternative for X, in providing real-time updates on various news topics, Meta’s it from a unique perspective, in attempting to inject a level of positivity into such discussion, versus beating you down with the newest argumentative takes and divisive issues.

That’s why the Threads team has been somewhat hesitant to incorporate a trending topics display, as using basic engagement metrics will inevitably skew towards the topics which can be driving more angst, and thus comments and engagement. Because that’s what drives comments, with various studies showing that high-arousal emotions, like anger, fear, and joy, usually tend to prompt replies and engagement.

Meta’s the latter end of that spectrum, and using the interest in Reels content as a proxy for a way it maximizes time spent within the app, while also balancing the necessity for real time information updates, in between more positive experiences.

So that you’re more prone to see funny videos in your “For You” feed, as opposed to only post after post concerning the latest political debates. Those will show up too, but Meta’s not making this the main focus, as a method to eek out engagement from arguments.

Which it sees as a more sustainable path forward, but inside that, that also implies that the Threads team is treading very rigorously on elements like an API, which could, as Mosseri notes, see publisher content take over the app.

That, ideally, won’t occur, but with a purpose to mitigate that influx, the Threads team needs to construct systems to dilute the influence of publisher content inside user feeds.

So it’s not only the undeniable fact that it needs to construct an API, it also must reformat its algorithm in anticipation of any impacts. The identical with trending topics, these are coming, but the main focus of Threads is just not to create Twitter 2.0, but to construct a greater version of what Twitter may very well be, based on a more positive user experience.

Which is an ambitious goal, but when anyone has the experience to make it occur, it’s the Meta team.

And as X slides further are further into divisive political debate, and folks yelling at each other of their replies, the delineation of Threads will turn into more stark.

Whether that’s a winning strategy stays to be seen, but that is the final word driving goal of Threads’ development.