Instagram’s Threads rolls out search feature in India

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced that Threads’ search feature was launching in more English-speaking countries including India

Threads recorded 100 million sign-ups within days of its launch in July, but lost many users [File] | Photo Credit: Reuters

Instagram’s text-based social media app Threads has finally released its keyword search function to users across English-speaking countries, including India, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said in a post on Friday.

The feature will be available on both mobile and web versions of Threads, and Mosseri called for users to try it out and pass on their feedback.

“We’re rolling out keyword search in English and Spanish, in countries where most people post in those languages - such as Argentina, India, Mexico and the US,” he posted.

Threads’ newly added keyword search displayed mostly relevant user accounts but had an option to look at search results containing the keyword. However, these results were randomly displayed without any kind of organisation while X (formerly Twitter) keyword search results can be filtered by category, media type, recency, or narrowed down with advanced search settings.

(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)

The difference between keyword searches on X (formerly Twitter) and Meta’s Threads | Photo Credit: Screenshots from X and Threads; Compiled with Canva

Tests for the Threads search feature started around two weeks ago in Australia and New Zealand, the Instagram chief said. In a previous interaction with users, Mosseri acknowledged Threads had many areas it needed to improve on. He also said that work was underway to launch an edit button.

While Threads recorded 100 million sign-ups within days of its launch in July, the Meta app quickly lost more than half of its users. The company is working on retention hooks to keep them engaged, reported Reuters in late July.