Meta is working on a new feature for its Threads app that will highlight trending conversations within the platform. The company is currently testing this option, labeled as “today’s top topics,” within the United States. The feature is being touted as a tool to spot “relevant discussions happening at the moment” and will be integrated into search results and scattered among postings within the app’s personalized feed, Meta announced. These discussions will be determined by the company’s AI systems, which will identify discussions with the highest engagement on Threads, as mentioned by the Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri.
Intriguingly, the new feature will cover trends relating to politics and elections. Despite Meta’s change in policy to cease suggesting political content unless users opt-in, the company has clarified that the new trending feature won’t be subjected to this limitation. Meta’s representative shared with Engadget that political content is still considerable as long as it complies with the Community Guidelines and other applicable integrity regulations.
Threads users have long been anticipating the addition of trending topics to make the app more useful for real-time updates. However, although AI will largely dictate what trends are displayed, some human curation seems to be part of Meta’s plan. A team of assigned “content specialists” will ensure the topics that feature as a “top topic” are not misleading, confusing, duplicated, and adhere to the Community Guidelines and integrity rules, according to Meta.
The test of the “today’s top topics” feature is currently limited, but an expanded launch in other countries and languages is expected once the company has further optimized it, according to Mark Zuckerberg.
