Threads Tests Disappearing Updates, Media Tab on Profiles

Threads is seemingly working on disappearing posts, while it’s also looking to add a new “Media” tab on profiles, replicating the presentation style of Twitter/X.

First off, on disappearing posts. As you can see in this example, shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Threads is seemingly developing a new ephemeral posting option, which would see your updates erased from the app after 24 hours when activated.

As explained in the text above:

“Your post and all replies will be automatically deleted in 24 hours and removed from your profile.”

That could make people feel more free to post things in the app, without the fear of their past missives being held against them in future.

Which we’ve seen over and over again with many celebrities being dragged for their past, ill-informed, insensitive, or offensive tweets and posts, which get dredged up when they suddenly get more media focus.

Threads chief Adam Mosseri has also explored auto-archive options for the same reason, noting that many people are using Threads “to share more raw and authentic content.” Mosseri believes that auto-deleting social posts should be an option, after 30 or 90 days, though feedback from users has indicated that this is not an overly popular functionality at this stage.

Either way, disappearing posts would align with this, with Threads users then able to either archive their posts, or set them to self-destruct, as they see fit.

Interestingly, it also aligns with X’s recent move to hide all user Likes, as a means to reduce the implied pressure that can come with interacting with certain types of “edgy” content.

Maybe, self-destructing posts would lead to more hot takes, and thus, more discussion in the app. But then again, the Threads team also seems determined to avoid the same, based on its efforts to downrank political discussion in the app.

So I don’t know, it seems to be a bit of a conflict, but either way, Threads is exploring it as a potential, optional posting process.

Threads is also looking to add a “Media” tab on user profiles, so you can more easily get to the videos and photos users have uploaded.

Really, that’s a bit of a no-brainer, and has likely always been part of the roadmap of coming Threads features. Facebook, of course, also has the same, with photo and video listing available in isolation from main posts, while X also has a media tab.

Given the popularity of media content, it makes sense to streamline connection to this, and this update will likely arrive on user profiles sometime soon.

The Threads team continues to add more elements, and with the app still being downloaded at high rates, it’ll be interesting to see whether it can add significantly to its 150 million monthly active users. Its growth momentum has slowed somewhat this year, but given the ongoing migration of discussion from the platform formerly known as Twitter, it does seem like Threads could still catch on in a much bigger way.