Threads Reaches 500 Million Monthly Users as Meta Introduces New Feed Controls

Nearly three years after debuting as a rival to Twitter, now known as X, Threads has surpassed 500 million monthly active users, the company announced on Tuesday. The Meta-owned social networking platform also unveiled several new features launching today, including a “Your Algo” tool designed to give users greater control over the content that appears in their feeds.

The new Your Algo feature expands on the platform’s “Dear Algo” tool introduced in February, which allowed users to influence their feeds by publishing public posts such as, “Dear Algo, show me more posts about podcasts.” With Your Algo, users can now adjust their feed preferences privately without needing to share a public message.

Users can tell Threads they would like to see more or less content related to specific topics and can select how long the preference remains active: one, three, or seven days. These requests are visible only to the individual user.

Your Algo is rolling out today across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

By giving users the ability to temporarily shape the content shown in their feeds, Threads gains a competitive advantage over X and other rival platforms by offering functionality not currently available elsewhere.

Threads is also moving “Communities” out of beta and introducing several highly requested enhancements. Initially launched last year as a way to compete with X, the feature provides dedicated spaces where users can engage in deeper discussions around interests such as basketball, television, K-pop, books, and more. Going forward, users will be able to discover groups through a new “Communities Hub.” In addition, communities now feature unique icons to make them easier to identify and distinguish.

“The Discovery Hub is a way for us to try to get communities in front of more people,” Instagram head Connor Hayes told TechCrunch. “We noticed that when folks use the app with a clear purpose and they find their people in the app quickly, it’s just a better experience for them. One of the challenges that they’ve had since we launched that feature over the last year was that it’s hard to organically find the communities that matter to you sometimes. So, the Discovery Hub is a big one.”

Threads also revealed that it is extending Live Chats to more communities while adding support for co-hosted chats and the ability to quote moments directly to a user’s feed. First introduced in April, Live Chats enable real-time discussions around major cultural events such as the FIFA World Cup. By July, all communities will gain access to the Live Chats feature.

“One of the positive pieces of feedback that we get from a lot of people about Threads is that they appreciate the quietness of the app in a world where a lot of social is video-centric and loud. And so these Live Chats have been a nice second screen companion experience for people that are watching stuff, but want to follow along with commentary while they do so,” Hayes said.

The broader availability of Live Chats is expected to help Threads narrow the gap with X in the area of real-time discussions. Unlike X, which has traditionally functioned as a global hub for breaking news and live events, Threads initially trailed behind in relevance and timeliness after launch because it lacked many core features available on X, including advanced search capabilities, hashtags, and a chronological timeline. Over time, however, Threads has introduced those features and is now seeking to strengthen its position with the addition of a tool not even the Elon Musk-owned platform currently offers.

Regarding the new monthly active user milestone, the figure indicates that Threads added 100 million monthly users over the last 10 months, as the company reported 400 million monthly active users in August 2025.

Threads’ continued expansion comes as the platform has rolled out a wide range of new capabilities during the past year, including direct messaging, ghost posts, desktop messaging, and additional features.