Threads is apparently deprioritizing its algorithmic feed, allowing you to see more posts from people you actually follow. It seems Meta is trying to increase the appeal of its microblogging platform as people search X alternatives following the American elections.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the change in a Threads post on Thursday. Although his initial post didn’t specify whether he was referring to Threads or Instagram, he implied that it was the former in some sense. later response.

“We’re rebalancing the leaderboard to prioritize content from people you follow, which will mean less recommended content from accounts you don’t follow and more posts from accounts you follow starting today. ” Mosseri wrote. “For you, creators, you should see unconnected reach decrease and connected reach increase.”

Many users compared the changes announced by Threads to The fallout from Twitter Bluesky, which already shows users by default the content of the accounts they follow. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber previously stated his goal of offering a “algorithm market” users can choose from a single “master algorithm”, noting that a chronological feed of accounts you follow is technically also an algorithm.

“It’s great to see other social networks copying personalized feeds!” Bluesky wrote on his Threads accountapparently in response to Mosseri’s announcement. “This is the kind of competition and innovation that has been lacking in social media over the past decade as progress has been confined to tech giants. It’s what improves our online experience.”

A significant number of those who drop out Elon MuskThe moved to Blueskywhich attracted more than 700,000 new users 20 million this week. Meanwhile, Mosseri announced that Threads had reached 275 million monthly active users at the start of this month, a number of Meta are clearly hoping to grow.

“This (ranking rebalancing) is definitely a work in progress – balancing the ability to reach followers and overall engagement is tricky – thank you for your patience and please continue to receive feedback,” Mosseri wrote on Tuesday.

Threads’ decision to forgo algorithmically recommended content represents a departure from Meta’s apparent strategy in recent years. Instagram and Facebook literally doubled the algorithmic flows in 2022, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying the two would double the amount of algorithmically chosen content they display. It was despite the overwhelming unpopularity of the algorithmic flow, of which Meta was well aware but determined to make it work.

“Now, if you see recommendations in your feed that don’t interest you, that means we’re doing a poor job of ranking and need to improve.” said Mosseri at the time. “But we’re going to continue to try to improve our recommendations because we think it’s one of the most effective and important ways to help creators reach more people.”

It now appears that, at least for Threads, Meta is finally allowing users to see more of the content they actually signed up for and prioritizing algorithmic experimentation.