The Meta social platform Threads recently announced the introduction of Live Chats to enable users to talk in real time during cultural events. Threads indicated that this new feature was introduced to make the application more time-effective and relevant. The NBA Threads community will take the lead in launching an online chat during the late season.
In an e-mail sent to TechCrunch, Threads indicated that the functionality was initially available to only a small number of content creators and that not all users could immediately initiate real-time chats, but Meta planned to expand access over time. Users can send messages, photos, videos, links and emoticons. Chat rooms can accommodate up to 150 members to send messages simultaneously. Upon reaching the maximum number of people, other users can still view the dialogue, respond to the message and participate in the voting in a “watcher” mode. When Threads was first launched, it was behind X in relevance and timeliness; it was relatively difficult for users to track global currents. X established its status as a global “public square” and was known for its real-time commentary and breaking news. And Thareads is struggling because of the lack of powerful search, topic tags and time lines.
Over time, Threads has used these tools to perfect the platform and now wants to compete with it by adding real-time interactive functions that X does not have. Meta explains in her blog: “This is a whole new way of building real-time communities around shared interests. Real-time chat is an extension of the current function of Threads and a new way for creators and fans to communicate their concerns in real time. Real-time chat is more dynamic than traditional community chat, because it was designed to provide real-time dialogue around cultural events that are taking place.” Users can add real-time chats from shared posts at the top of community dynamics, in the movement of the home page, or by clicking on red real-time rings around the host’s head. Meta indicated that while real-time chats end after a certain time, they remain open for public viewing.
Threads automatically detects and deletes information that violates its policy and anyone in the chat room can report it. In addition, the moderator has real-time clearance to downgrade users to bystanders or kick them out of chat rooms. Meta indicated that several new features would be added to Live Chats in the future, including co-chairing, real-time article-by-article updates, highlighting the lock-in components of real-time chat activities, and being able to directly quote chat messages and share them with the Threads dynamics. While Meta points out that this function can also be used in places such as the release of the album, there is potential for real-time chat to be used in many other scenarios — for example, the upcoming World Cup competition, the awards ceremony, the television drama event.
