Threads users who’ve been asking for a working website since the social network launched in early July finally have their wish. As of Thursday, Meta’s new platform is fully accessible to all users from any computer and desktop browser, Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed in a new Threads post.
The official launch follows a Threads post from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday that showed him in front of a PC seemingly working on the website. In the post, Zuckerberg revealed that the site would be rolling out over the next few days.
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One of the most requested features from Threads users, the web version lets you sign in with your account credentials, access your entire news feed, respond to posts, and create your own posts from your PC.
Until now, Threads was accessible only as a mobile app. Though a website had been in place, it only allowed you to read posts. And even then, the process was clumsy as you could read posts from just one account at a time.
Following its early July launch, Threads quickly took off, becoming the fastest-growing app ever and winning more than 100 million new users in less than a week. Since then, however, the number of Threads users and the time spent with the platform have plunged.
After peak volume on July 7, the number of active daily users had fallen by 70% as of July 26, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. And from July 7 to August 7, the volume of users dropped by 79%, according to web analytics firm Similarweb.
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The average amount of time spent each day using the app started at around 14 minutes, or almost 21 minutes in the US. By August 7, that number had dropped to just three minutes.
Will the full website access motivate former users to return to Threads and spend more time with the service? As someone who’s in front of my PC working most days, I’m more inclined to use social networks that provide full website access. Beyond firing up the mobile app a few times to write stories about Threads, I haven’t hopped onto the platform much since signing up for it. I do expect that to change now that I have the convenience of a website.
To use the new Threads website, sign in with your Threads/Instagram username and password. Scroll down your news feed. By default, you’ll see posts from accounts you follow as well as those from random accounts you might like. To switch your feed to see only posts from the accounts you follow, click the For You button in the lower left corner, and it will change to Following.
Find an interesting post and you can like it, comment on it, repost it, or share it via a copied link or embedded code. You can create and submit your own posts and attach an image or paste a link in it. Plus, you’re able to see a list of accounts that follow you and that have liked one of your posts. A search tool lets you find accounts based on keywords and terms, but the ability to search for posts is still in the works.
An account screen lets you view your profile photo and bio as well as the posts you’ve created, responded to, or reposted. However, if you want to change your photo or bio, you’ll still need to do that in the mobile app. Finally, an icon with a couple of lines in the upper right allows you to switch between dark and light mode, access Meta’s various terms and policies, report a problem, or sign out of your account.
For now, certain features and options are still accessible only in the mobile apps. In an email to ZDNET, Meta spokesperson Christine Pai said that the Threads team has been working to bring the website up to parity with the mobile app and will be adding more functionality to the site in the coming weeks.
Beyond beefing up the website, Threads has other items on its to-do list. Users have been asking for an option to search for posts, a hashtag method, an edit button, and a version for tablets like the iPad.
