Imagine a world where your social media posts vanish into thin air after 24 hours. Threads, the messaging app by Facebook, is currently toying with this idea. The feature, inspired by the Stories format popularized by Snapchat and later adopted by Instagram and Facebook, allows users to set a timer on their posts for them to disappear after a day.
But why would anyone want their posts to disappear so quickly? Well, here are a few possible reasons:
- It could save users who are in the habit of deleting their posts from the trouble of manually doing so.
- It provides a sense of impermanence, allowing users to share more freely without the fear of their posts lingering on the platform forever.
The idea of vanishing posts isn’t entirely new. Twitter had a similar feature called Fleets, which allowed users to share ephemeral posts that disappeared after 24 hours. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, hinted at a similar concept for Threads a few months ago, but it remains to be seen if this feature will be rolled out to a wider audience.
Threads, known for its focus on close friends and family interactions, has been making some interesting updates lately. In August, they introduced a new inbox for users to manage their conversations more efficiently, especially for those with a large following. Additionally, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced that the option to schedule posts is also in the works.
As social media continues to evolve, the idea of temporary posts could become more mainstream. It’s a trend worth keeping an eye on as platforms like Threads experiment with new ways to engage users.
