Instagram's text-based conversation app Threads has started testing the ability to search for posts on the platform, the company said on August 31 as it continues to add key features to boost its offering.
Threads currently allows users to search for user accounts. However, starting today, people in Australia and New Zealand will be able to search for posts on the service as well.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post that they are planning to expand this rollout to other English-speaking countries soon, while also adding support for additional languages.
Instagram launched Threads in July as the company's answer to rival X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. The app had a stupendous start, clocking 100 million sign-ups in less than five days of its launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer product across the world. However, it has witnessed a significant decline in usage in the subsequent days, primarily due to the service's limited functionality.
The company is now rapidly adding a slew of important basic features to Threads to drive broader acceptance among consumers across the world in an effort to attract new users and retain existing users on the platform. This includes introducing a fully functional web version, a chronological feed of posts, a following tab and a reposts tab, among others.
The service however still lacks basic features such as the ability to support multiple accounts, an edit button, and direct messaging.
During the company's earnings conference call in July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remained optimistic about the performance of Threads, stating that he expects the app to become the next billion-user social network in its suite of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
However, he admitted that they still have a "lot of basic functionality to build" and fine-tune the service to retain users.
"Once we feel like we're in a very good place on that, then I'm highly confident that we're going to be able to pour enough gasoline on this to help it grow," Zuckerberg said.
Last month, Zuckerberg had said that "tens of millions of people" were returning to Threads on a daily basis and the company plans to focus on improving the app's "basics and retention" for the rest of the year.
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