by Key Takeaways
- In Japan, Threads is piloting the “Trending Now” function.
- The feature showcases trending topics and live discussions.
- The feature’s performance will have an impact on Threads’ expansion in Japan.
The “Trending Now” feature of Meta’s Threads app is being extended to Japan following a successful launch in the US earlier this year.
In response to user demand for this feature outside of the US, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said, “Many people outside of the US have been requesting the ‘Trending Now’ feature.”
The purpose of the tool is to highlight discussions that are creating buzz in real time, enabling users to learn about hot subjects in their local communities.
Through a variety of popular hashtags that represent regional interests, X maintains a strong presence on social media in Japan, and Threads aims to compete with them. Adding trending topics might drastically change how users interact with threads and make it a more lively forum for in-the-moment conversations.
In response to the mounting dissatisfaction with X under Elon Musk’s leadership, Meta launched Threads on July 5, 2023.
When the app was released, it was timed to take advantage of users’ annoyance with X’s unpredictability and contentious updates. Threads started out with simple capabilities like text postings, sharing of images and videos, and interactions. Since then, it has added features like post scheduling and even dabbled with Fediverse integration.
Despite various ups and downs, the platform has grown remarkably. Following a five-day spike that saw it approach 100 million sign-ups, Threads suffered a decline in activity. Since then, however, it has recovered remarkably. In April of last year, Mark Zuckerberg informed investors that the site has over 150 million active users each month. The figure was said to have increased to 175 million per month three months later.
Although it falls short of X’s 250 million daily active users, Threads’ long-term survival in Japan may depend on how well the “Trending Now” feature does there.
