Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that Threads, Instagram’s Twitter-like app, is rolling out an edit button. With this new feature, you can edit your post as many times as you want within five minutes of posting. Previously, you have had to delete a post and repost it when you want to correct a typo.
Unlike X (formerly Twitter), which only added an edit button last year and then locked it behind a subscription, Threads is rolling out the edit button to users at no extra charge. The edit button is available on mobile and the web, and comes around three months after the social network first launched.
However, Threads does not show the edit history of a post, which is something that X offers in order to allow for transparency while also preventing misinformation. In this case, users on Threads can post something, have it garner likes and reposts, and then change the text of the post afterwards without having any sort of record of what it had originally stated. This presents problems because it allows for the edit button to be used maliciously.
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta to see if the company plans to add a edit history function.
Zuckerberg also announced that Threads is launching “Voice Threads,” which like its name entails, allows users to add voice posts to the social network. The feature is a welcome update for people who prefer using voice options as opposed to text options. You post a voice post by either starting a new thread or reply, then tapping the microphone icon to begin recording. A caption of your audio clip will be generated automatically, which you can then edit.
Today’s announcement comes as Threads is said to be preparing to launch a Trends feature in an effort to better compete with X. The news was revealed after a Threads user spotted the update in a screenshot posted accidentally by a Threads employee. The screenshot shows a numbered list of trending topics, along with information about how many “threads” were actively discussing each item.
Unlike on X, Threads’ Trends list does not appear to list trends by topic, such as News and Sports. It also does not appear to have a list of trends that are personalized like X’s “For You.” Despite this, the addition of a Trends page would make Threads more competitive with X.
Instagram Threads preps a Trending Topics feature in battle with X
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