The series is sometimes criticized for not prioritizing real-time content in its recommendations. Now, Meta is adding status indicators that can show when a particular user is online in an apparent effort to address that need.
An optional feature, called “activity status,” will show a green bubble next to someone’s profile picture when they’re online. The directory is designed to help users find “real-time collaborators,” according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. “We hope that knowing when your people are online makes it easier to have conversations.”
It’s an interesting option for a platform that doesn’t yet have messaging capabilities. Such indicators are very common in chat applications such as Discord (Instagram, which has strong DM capabilities, also has a similar feature). But Meta has repeatedly said it doesn’t want to bring in-app messaging to Threads, and the app product head. Business Insider there are no plans to add DMs to the app.
This feature also directly addresses the desire of many users for a feed that is more focused on real-time information and discussions. Instead, Meta provides status indicators as a way to search for users currently active on the service as a way to encourage conversations that are likely to receive timely responses. But without a clear way to find people with that green bubble next to their profile picture, it’s unclear how easy this will be.
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