Meta's Threads reinforces its focus on Communities by introducing a "Champion" badge and new profile labels.

      Meta is enhancing Threads by introducing deeper community spaces, custom badges, and interest labels, aiming to transform passive scrolling into more active group engagement.

      Meta’s microblogging platform, Threads, is broadening its Communities feature, which now accommodates over 200 communities, an increase from just above 100 (as reported in a newsroom update). These additional communities encompass a wider range of interests, from general themes like books and K-pop to specific topics such as favorite sports teams.

      In addition, Meta is testing engagement functionalities within the expanded communities. Contributors who demonstrate high engagement will earn a “Champion” badge on their profile, indicating their role in keeping discussions lively and their popularity on the platform. Users will also have the option to set customizable interest labels that will appear as tags beneath their usernames.

      Threads emphasizes identity-driven conversations

      Both features promote a sense of personal identity among users within the app, marking a shift away from a purely chronological or algorithm-driven feed. Furthermore, they encourage users to remain engaged and participate beyond simply posting to their feeds, enhancing overall platform interaction. However, these features are still in the testing phase, meaning they are not yet available to everyone.

      If you are a regular Threads user, the growth of the Communities feature and the introduction of badges and labels could change the way you interact with the app. Community spaces facilitate finding focused discussions rather than aimless scrolling, while badges highlight quality contributors and labels provide context.

      For creators and influencers on Threads, these updates offer an additional avenue for increased visibility beyond mere follower counts, as they can engage more actively in spaces where their target audiences are already present. This update also emphasizes a commitment to fostering genuine discussions rather than relying solely on algorithmic suggestions.

      Meta has indicated plans to introduce similar features for Threads soon, including ranking tools within communities and methods to ensure the most pertinent posts appear at the top of users’ feeds. We may also see Threads incorporating more moderation tools, leaderboards, or reputation systems.

      Ultimately, Threads is evolving to promote topic-based discussions, a strategy that has proven successful for platforms like Reddit. Recently, Meta announced new features for its Edits app, alongside a “Your Algorithm” feature for Instagram users. While the former aids users or creators in content creation, the latter allows for fine-tuning of their feeds.

      For over five years, Shikhar has continuously simplified advances in consumer technology and presented them.

      Use a passkey on X? Update it by November 10 or risk losing access.

      Hardware keys and passkeys need to be re-enrolled, but authenticator apps are not impacted, according to X.

      What’s happening? X has alerted users that it is transitioning logins to x.com and will phase out the twitter.com domain. Anyone using a hardware security key or a passkey must re-enroll by November 10, linking the key to x.com. X clarifies that this is not a security breach, and authenticator apps remain unaffected. The company’s Safety account noted that accounts using security keys for two-factor authentication must re-enroll to retain access, based on posts made on X.

      Meta introduces disappearing posts to Threads under a spooky name

      You can now post material that disappears from the public feed after 24 hours, while keeping replies private.

      Do you remember disappearing messages? They are now debuting on Threads, Meta’s rival to X that is based on Instagram. Meta refers to them as “ghost posts,” although the name can be misleading, as they are not truly invisible.

      Facebook Dating is gaining popularity, and there’s a clear reason you might like it too.

      What happened: Do you recall Facebook’s introduction of a dating feature back in 2019? Many of us might have rolled our eyes or overlooked it entirely. Surprisingly, it has quietly become a significant phenomenon. We’re talking about 21 million daily users, which actually surpasses the number of daily users on Hinge!