Threads wants to make live conversation easier with upcoming Live Chats

Threads is getting a new feature called Live Chats, and it sounds like it could change how people follow along during live events on the platform.

Connor Hayes, Head of Threads, pre-announced the feature at what seemed to be a public event, saying it addresses a real limitation right now. As he put it, posting to your feed 50 times over an hour just doesn’t work well for live conversation. Live Chats is designed to fix that.

Here’s the video of the announcement shared by Carolyn Burt on Threads: 

 

 

View on Threads

 

The way the feature will supposedly work is pretty straightforward. 

A creator starts a Live Chat, adds a few collaborators who can send messages into it, and then followers can subscribe and watch the conversation happen in real time without being able to message themselves. Hayes described it as “the group chat from your messaging app that your fans can follow along with.” That alone is a decent way to put it.

One thing that stood out is that Hayes specifically mentioned wishing the feature had been ready for Coachella. It wasn’t, but he said people should start seeing it show up over the next few weeks.

This isn’t the first time Live Chats has surfaced. App researcher alex193a spotted it earlier this month, noting it was being built for Threads Communities. According to that earlier find, users will be able to set a start and end time for a chat, choose who can send messages, and give the chat a name and profile photo. So it’s been in the works for a bit.

At present, there’s no firm launch date yet, just “coming soon.”

Meanwhile, other Meta apps are quietly picking up new things too. Instagram recently started supporting GIFs in Notes and is also testing the ability to edit comments, two small but welcome additions.

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