Threads on the web is here

Threads on the web is here

Image: The Verge

Meta is finally launching a much more capable web app for Threads, the company announced on Tuesday. You’ll be able to post, interact with other posts, and look at your feed, spokesperson Christine Pai tells The Verge. It’s set to roll out over the next few days, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says.

So far, Threads on the web has essentially been a glorified way to look at somebody’s profile — you couldn’t even like or reshare a post even though the web app included the buttons to do so. (If you clicked them, Threads would show you a QR code to download the mobile app.) The new desktop web interface looks a lot like the one in the mobile app, though with some small differences; the navigation icons are on the top of the page, and to switch between the For You and Following feeds, you’ll click a button in the bottom-left corner.

Image: Meta

However, the web experience doesn’t let you do everything that you can in the mobile app. According to Pai, that means you can’t do things like edit your profile or send a post to Instagram DMs from the web.

Still, I’m thrilled that there’s even a bare-bones level of functionality available. I much prefer using social media apps on the web on my computer, especially since I spend the vast majority of my workday in a desktop web browser. Jumping over to my phone just to post something on Threads was starting to get annoying, so I bet I’ll be using this new web version of Threads quite a bit.

Threads had a splashy launch at the beginning of July to take advantage of the unhappiness toward Elon Musk’s Twitter. The app hit 100 million users in a matter of days, easily eclipsing ChatGPT’s huge release last year, even though the app still isn’t available in the European Union.

Despite the big launch, some analytics firms have reported that Threads usage has plummeted; perhaps the improved web app and forthcoming better search will convince some lapsed users to return.

Update August 22nd, 9:08AM ET: Added post from Mark Zuckerberg.