Threads, Meta’s ambitious microblogging app, began its journey in July 2023 as a direct response to the chaotic state of Twitter—then under Elon Musk’s erratic leadership.
Developed by the Instagram team, Threads was tightly integrated into Instagram's ecosystem, requiring users to sign up with their Instagram accounts. It quickly surged past 100 million users within days of launch, but engagement dropped sharply soon after, prompting Meta to rethink and refine the platform.
From the start, Threads was positioned as Meta’s answer to X (formerly Twitter), with a focus on positivity, community, and algorithmically-driven discovery rather than real-time news or viral drama. But as the app matured, it started competing not only with X, but also with niche platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and even Telegram in some use cases.
The main challenge? Making Threads feel like a standalone social space, rather than a mere Instagram extension.
Now, in a bid to further differentiate Threads and build out its identity, Meta is rolling out a dedicated messaging feature for the app.
On its second anniversary in July 2025, Threads introduced a long-anticipated feature: in-app direct messaging.
Before this, any attempt to message someone on Threads would redirect users to Instagram's inbox, which many found inconvenient and counterintuitive.
But with the newly launched feature finally allows users to send messages within the Threads app itself.
In other words, while Threads still leans heavily on its Instagram DNA, the slow peeling-away of that dependency shows Meta’s intent: to build a Twitter alternative that doesn’t feel like a clone, but rather a modern reimagining of what a text-first, community-driven platform can be.
Meta wants Threads to become an independent social platform, and more capable of fostering deeper user engagement on its own.
The new messaging system enables one-on-one conversations between mutual followers on Threads or Instagram, and both users must be at least 18 years old. The current rollout includes basic messaging tools such as text chat, spam reporting, message muting, and preset emoji reactions.
However, it's worth noting that these messages are not end-to-end encrypted—a decision Meta acknowledges but has no immediate plans to change.
"We’re not encrypting our DMs," said Emily Dalton Smith, Threads VP of Product. "It’s really about just connecting directly and talking to people about whatever is happening now, which I think makes encryption less core to the experience."
The feature launched first in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Argentina and is now being rolled out globally.
Beyond DMs, Meta is also giving Threads a 'Highlighter' feature, which should boosts visibility of some content.
The feature can highlight trending topics related to the content users are reading while scrolling their For You feed, but over time, Threads could highlight perspectives from users or active conversations that users might want to jump into, including within various topic feeds.
"As Threads enters year three, we’re focused on supporting communities and creators, highlighting fresh perspectives and maintaining a space where conversations and communities thrive," Meta said in a blog post.
"One thing that’s been particularly exciting is that we have seen that people are building their own graphs on Threads," Emily Dalton Smith added.. “They’re building up what we think of as an interest graph that is new and distinct from the social graph that underlies their account on Instagram.”
Despite having been built on top of Instagram’s social graph, over a third of the people who come to Threads daily have less than a 50% overlap between their Instagram connections and Threads connections, Meta said.
“Instagram is really for creativity and Threads is really for perspectives,” Smith noted.