Threads begins testing an option to set For You, Following, or a custom feed as the default, another improvement seemingly sparked by competition from Bluesky
For You, following, or a custom one — as your default. Also making this more visible in the app. Interested to see how and if people use this. Jason Kottke / @jkottke : FINALLY. Threads will finally let you set the following feed as your default. https://www.theverge.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless1280 : The tiniest bit of competition always works https://www.theverge.com/... Navneet Alang / @navneetalang : This almost sounds like... “here, have your dumb default feed. in a few months from now we'll just reverse this, citing data that only a tiny fraction of users ever enabled the option” Mike Isaac / @mike_isaac : to be clear: product people make a zillion mockups and tests of stuff they're using and circulate them widely internally and things get approved or denied. i dont doubt these specific updates existed in some form or another for the past year. … Ben Grosser / @ben.grosser : Meta has a history of deflecting critique under the guise of “testing.” Don't give them credit for any feature not fully released. Their “tests” have lasted 2 years in past. It's often a tactic they use to generate positive press for changing something when they're really changing nothing. … Adam Mosseri / @mosseri : It's a bit of both. We certainly pulled forward a number of things that were already in the works - including shipping a few things with backtests instead of testing first - and then of course we did add a few things as well. @bluesky_social : our impact @guillecummings : The updates to Threads are good, and welcome, regardless of the reason, but the app still needs cultural relevance. You don't have Mina Kimes saying on air she uses Threads to talk sports, she mentioned Bluesky. Twitter started to blow up when Ashton Kutcher started using it a lot, that stuff matters. Casey Newton / @crumbler : Posting on Threads lately is like dating Leonardo DiCaprio ... no engagement Lora Kolodny / @lorakolodny : i still enjoy threads but am finding the dm's & link sharing on bluesky a cut above & it's the new kid on the block which is fun- seeing how the execs there will play it. idk. no safe harbor online. anywhere. Mike Isaac / @mike_isaac : i think the other thing i would say about the whole threads bluesky thing is that all of this feels very up in the air to me just as threads had a ton of momentum out of the gate, so does bluesky (albeit at very, very different scales) i dont think short-term matters as much as longevity and health of the network. you want people to keep coming back beyond the enthusiasm of the “protest download” and that means developing community over time. which is hard for anyone, big or small. Mike Isaac / @mike_isaac : i admire the brazenness here. not even pretending that directly cloning is above them. — Meta says it has a bunch of stuff long in the works and that none of this is new. — Bullshit. You don't see Mark posting constant updates about a direct competitor every few days unless he really cares about the issue. … Alexander B. Howard / @digiphile : The people who could have made this an alternative to Twitter are all testing the option to go elsewhere, @zuck. We asked for a default following feed. You ignored it. We asked for Lists. You ignored us. We asked for transparent moderation & appeals. You ignored us. … @julia__angwin : In other words, Meta will give you three types of algorithms — all of which suck: — 1) Engagement bait (current default) — 2) Time based (chronological) — 3) Search term (the blank box they are calling curation) — RE: https://www.threads.net/... Richard Lawler / @richardlawler : Yeah, I think Threads heard about the growth of Bluesky — they're finally bending on letting people set the Following feed as default. Threads will finally let you set the following feed as your default - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/... Keith Edwards / @keithedwards : Literally what anyone has been asking for since this app started Dylan Horetski / @dilpickle1 : I can't wait to get this feature in 3 months @guillecummings : LMAOOOOO BLUESKY SHOOK THEM UP Grant McConnaughey / @grantmcconnaughey : Thank you, @bluesky_social, for making this happen. Brian Penny / @thebrianpenny : It's wild how fast Meta got to work over the past month on improving Threads. — RE: https://www.threads.net/... Bluesky: Dell Cameron / @dell.bsky.social : this whole “well shucks, wonder if people might enjoy this” bullshit is hilarious. [embedded post] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez / @aoc.bsky.social : The Meta thing is interesting because users have been vocally opposed to all these tweaks along the way & they have defended each one w/ metrics+engagement. — But when there's competition, people are moving. — It's a reminder that engagement ≠ enjoyment. … Jared Newman / @advisorator.com : You can see the disdain in Zuck's wording. It's the same as what fuels Facebook's endless red notification badges steering you toward whatever feature needs better engagement metrics that day, or the notifications that someone you vaguely know posted something entirely unrelated to you. Harry McCracken / @harrymccracken.com : The real question is whether Twitter, or X, or whatever it's called will take any steps clearly designed to stave off competition from Bluesky. My bet is “no,” because its product development is largely driven by factors other than giving people things they might want to use. Jared Newman / @advisorator.com : The post from Zuck exemplifies what bothers me so much about Meta products. Everything they do is boiled down to the lowest common denominator, thus they completely slept on why creators/power users might want things like lists and chronological feeds instead of three day-old ragebait. [embedded post] Harry McCracken / @harrymccracken.com : The fact that Bluesky exists is making Threads better. https://www.theverge.com/... Emil Protalinski / @emilprotalinski.bsky.social : Competition is a wonderful thing. — Good job, @bsky.app! [embedded post] Matt Burgess / @mattburgess1.bsky.social : This might have made me use Threads... if it was done a year ago Jay Peters / @jaypeters.net : Users win when there is real competition www.theverge.com/2024/11/25/ 2... Olivier Simard-Casanova / @o.simardcasanova.net : It's funny how a competitor adding 1M users/day suddenly makes features available on Threads — The way Meta is rushing to add features long asked for by power users is an incredible testament (and self-admission?) of how poorly run Threads has been so far — www.threads.net/@zuck/post/D... … Will Oremus / @willoremus.com : We wrote on Saturday about how Meta is going all-out to meet the threat of Bluesky: wapo.st/3OrYxBj — Today they took another step— finally allowing users to set their default feeds to a chronological “following” feed. [image] David Imel / @davidimel.com : Competition, ladies and gentleman. — https://www.theverge.com/... Conor Sen / @conorsen.bsky.social : This mentality worked for Snap->Stories and TikTok->Reels but the network effects of the media/discourse site are so sticky. Maybe it'll work on casuals to keep Bluesky from being a 50M+ DAU site though. [embedded post]
Context & Ripple Effects
Threads launched as Meta's Instagram-linked text platform, inheriting account access and social connections from Instagram. Its early scale came from that distribution advantage rather than from a feed-choice proposition of its own.
This follows Threads' earlier test of custom feeds for profiles and topics, extending feed control from a selectable feature to a potential default. The change matters because it makes the app's ranking-led experience more contestable at the moment users open it.
First-order effects
- Threads users in the test can set For You, Following, or a custom feed as their landing view, while Meta makes that control more prominent in the app.
- A Following default gives users who prefer chronological or account-led consumption a direct alternative to the algorithmic For You feed without requiring them to switch views each session.
Second-order effects
- Bluesky gains validation for feed choice as a competitive dimension, while Threads must learn whether users actively choose non-default ranking experiences once the setting is visible.
- Creators and publishers may see more value in retaining direct followers if a larger share of Threads sessions begin in Following or topic-specific custom feeds rather than in For You.
Third-order effects
- If major social apps keep exposing durable feed defaults, recommendation becomes one distribution option among several rather than the unchallenged front door—an instance of Threads' broader custom-feed rollout.
- The lasting effect depends on whether Meta preserves the chosen default and gives it comparable prominence; a test alone does not establish a durable shift in audience allocation.
The trend: Competition among text-based social platforms is pushing feed selection and user-controlled discovery from niche feature toward core platform governance.