Meta Changes How Instagram and Threads Handle Political Content

 Meta is changing the way Instagram and Threads show political content. The company wants to avoid making Threads like Twitter, where political debates can get very heated. Now, Instagram and Threads won't "proactively" show users political posts. This is similar to what Meta already does on Facebook. It has cut down on political content in different places like the News Feed and video suggestions.

Image: Digital Information World

Meta plans to bring these changes to Instagram and Threads as the 2024 U.S. elections get closer. This means less political content in Instagram Reels and the Explore section, as well as in the main feed of both Instagram and Threads.

Threads is trying to be different from Twitter, avoiding news and political debates. Even though Threads delayed adding a trends feature, Meta doesn't want to push news content there.

Meta's new rules affect how Instagram suggests posts to users. But, if someone follows an account that shares political content, they will still see those posts in their feed and stories. It just means those posts won't be suggested to people who don't follow the account. Instagram will let professional accounts check if they can be suggested and change their content if they want to be.

Users who like political content can choose to see it in their settings on Instagram and Threads. Facebook will have a similar option later.

Meta is making these changes slowly. They want to be careful after facing criticism for spreading hate and misinformation in the past. This could also help with lawmakers who are thinking about how to handle big tech companies.

Adam Mosseri Trending Topics Not a Priority for Threads, Here’s Why

 Threads has been making a lot of waves recently, with many saying that it is the platform that is most likely to supplant Twitter, now known as X, as the most popular microblogging platform out there. One of the many things that the social media platform is trying to incorporate is trending topics, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, CEO Adam Mosseri doesn’t think that this should be all that big of a priority.

According to him, trending is just one of many features that won't really help the platform grow as much in the long run with all things having been considered and taken into account. Hashtags, following feeds, edit buttons and like lists were also mentioned in his statement. You might think that trending topics in particular would be excellent for engagement, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, Mosseri doesn’t seem to think that they would have all that measurable of an impact.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that X derives a lot of its value from features like the ones mentioned above, all of which create more engagement than might have been the case otherwise. Trending topics also go a really long way towards keeping users hooked, and with lists, users can discover content that pertains to their precise and specific interests.

This just goes to show that the assumptions we often have about the manner in which social media platforms function might not always line up with the reality of how things work on the ground. The point here is that Meta’s priority has been to figure out what users want through algorithms, and this has yielded a 20% increase in Reels usage. It might not be a stretch to say that users don’t actually know what they want, and that while certain features might boost engagement, people like Mosseri that actually see the data coming in would have a better idea of how to make Threads reach its full potential.

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