Meta Platforms plans to launch a web version of its X rival Threads within days, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (paywall).
The addition of the much-requested feature, favoured mostly by power users, may help the X rival remain competitive in its effort to overtake the app formerly known as Twitter as the most-used microblogging platform in the world.
User retention has been a pain point for Threads following its record-breaking sprint to 100 million sign-ups in just four days. User commentary points to a lack of features as the major driver of this churn.
In the eight weeks since its launch, the Threads team has used a combination of user engagement – via posts from key figures such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri and the official Threads account – and incremental feature deployments to keep user frustrations at bay while building more functionality into the barebones application.
Among the feature updates have been a chronological feed, the ability to use multiple accounts, reposts, the ability to sort following lists, and the viewing of liked items.
Read: Threads desktop version coming within weeks
The desktop version could have a positive impact on engagement and user retention considering that a web-based app can be kept running in the background, or on a separate screen. — (c) 2023 NewsCentral Media