Meta, the parent company of Threads, may soon give the app a boost with a new cross-posting feature. The feature, currently being tested on iOS and restricted from the EU, will allow Facebook users to post to both platforms simultaneously. This feature, previously available for cross-posting from Facebook to Instagram, has the potential to significantly increase the amount of content available on Threads.
According to a representative from Meta, the feature will support both text and link posts. This could be particularly useful for content creators who regularly post multimedia and text updates, eliminating the need to post in multiple places. Additionally, the cross-posting feature strengthens Threads’ connection to Meta’s larger app ecosystem, potentially attracting more users to the app.
Currently, Meta’s family of apps reaches a user base of 3.98 billion. Even if only a fraction of Facebook users utilize the cross-posting feature for Threads, it could still greatly increase the app’s number of posts.
In 2021, Facebook introduced the option to cross-post to Instagram, building upon the ability to cross-post Stories between the two platforms. Later, Threads, the company’s Twitter/X competitor, leveraged this cross-posting capability to quickly grow its user base. New Threads users were automatically connected with others they knew or followed on Instagram, facilitating the app’s rapid growth to an impressive 100 million users within five days of its launch. As of Meta’s most recent quarter, Threads boasts over 130 million monthly active users, with the company promoting popular Threads content on the main feeds of both Facebook and Instagram.
The testing of the Facebook cross-posting feature was recently discovered on the iOS app by Threads user @whimchic (Ljiljana Grujicic). In her example, the post was automatically shared to both accounts associated with her profile, though it did not indicate that it was cross-posted. This could be problematic for someone using their full name on Facebook but a more anonymous handle on a public platform like Threads.
This is not the first time Threads has experimented with cross-posting. In the past, users were frustrated to find their posts automatically shared on Facebook and Instagram, where their audiences differ from those on Threads. In response to feedback, Meta added the option to disable automatic sharing by default, quelling any backlash.
The cross-posting feature was not the only new feature being tested by Facebook. Grujicic also shared a photo on LinkedIn showing a test of a “Write with AI” feature, aiding users in crafting their posts.
