Threads just got a little more like Bluesky

The rivalry between Threads and Bluesky continues to heat up as Meta steps into Bluesky’s territory to reveal a new feature. 

On Thursday, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced that Meta, which owns Threads, is testing a feature that enables users to “find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about popular topics on Threads.” These collections will be suggested both when new users sign up for the site and in their For You feed. 

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Meta spokesperson Alec Booker explained to The Verge that users can find collections built around topics like “basketball, style and fashion, food, books, pop culture, and more.” 

If you’ve been following the ascent of Bluesky, you’ll probably think this new Threads feature sounds similar to Bluesky’s starter packs. These packs are a customizable collection of accounts grouped by a particular area of interest or topic. 

If you’re familiar with Bluesky, you’ll probably find this new Threads feature resembles Bluesky’s starter packs — customizable collections of accounts grouped by a particular area of interest or topic.   

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Users interested in a particular subject can follow anyone in that pack. For example, you might find a local news starter pack or a Twitch code strimmers starter pack. You can check out Bluesky’s starter pack directory here.  

Meta’s Booker detailed how this new Threads feature is “based on learnings from the test, and [we] hope to expand the functionality to more people soon.” 

This isn’t the first time a social media site has released a feature or update similar to a rival’s. In fact, this kind of strategy has been an instrumental part of the tech landscape for quite some time. 

As Mashable culture reporter Christianna Silva explains, Instagram and other Meta-owned apps “swallow their enemies” by appropriating their features in an attempt to leapfrog the competition.

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Meta has been building out Threads’ features over the past few weeks with new improvements, such as post metrics, custom feeds, advanced search, the option to choose a default feed, AI-powered summaries of trending topics, and more. 

Bluesky has 25 million users, a increase of five million from a month ago. Threads saw 35 million new users flock to the site in November, maintaining an edge over its rival.