Chat app Threads extends features, now offering private messages, aiming to distinguish itself from Instagram's indirect association.
July 1, 2025, marks a significant milestone for Threads, Meta's social media platform, as it unveils two innovative features: Direct Messaging (DMs) and Highlighter. These new additions are designed to enhance user interaction, foster deeper community engagement, and promote meaningful conversations.
The introduction of private Direct Messages marks a major evolution for Threads, transforming it from an Instagram companion focused on public discourse into a standalone social network that supports private conversations. Users aged 18 and above can now send one-on-one messages to their Threads followers or mutual Instagram followers, making private connections easier within the platform.
Core Direct Message features include emoji reactions, spam reporting, and the ability to mute conversations. Meta plans to add further messaging capabilities soon, such as message controls to determine who can message you (even non-followers), group chats for multi-user conversations, and inbox filters to better manage and prioritize messages.
Meta emphasizes privacy and safety, applying the same infrastructure used in its other apps to Threads DMs. This feature strengthens community engagement and offers creators and businesses direct ways to interact with followers while preserving safety measures.
The Highlighter tool is designed to spotlight and elevate unique perspectives and engaging content that foster thoughtful conversations. Initially, Highlighter will emphasize trending topics to help users discover important or popular content within Threads. This feature aims to support community building by making key discussion points more visible and encouraging meaningful interaction.
Highlighter will appear in content discovery areas, and Meta plans to expand its presence in the platform over time. The Highlighter feature is part of Threads' ongoing efforts to enhance user experience, aiming to spark meaningful conversations and promote fresh viewpoints, fostering a thriving environment for conversations.
These updates come as Threads surpasses 350 million monthly active users and asserts its identity distinct from Instagram, with over a third of daily users following different accounts than on Instagram. The addition of DMs aligns Threads more closely with other major social media platforms, offering a more comprehensive social experience by blending public discourse with private messaging.
While some users express concern that adding private messaging may shift the app’s original focus on open conversations, Meta remains committed to fostering a positive, creative, and safe environment for expression. The new Highlighter feature is aimed at sparking meaningful conversations and encouraging users to engage with content that matters to them.
In summary, Threads' new Direct Messaging and Highlighter features, launched July 1, 2025, enhance user interaction by enabling private conversations and promoting meaningful, highlighted content to encourage deeper community engagement. Users can start using these new features immediately if they are avid Threads users.
Threads' new Direct Messaging feature transforms the platform from a public discourse-focused Instagram companion into a standalone social network that supports private conversations, allowing users to connect privately within the platform.
Meanwhile, the Highlighter tool is designed to spotlight and elevate unique perspectives and engaging content, aiming to make key discussion points more visible and encourage meaningful interaction among users.
