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Keyword search is finally coming to Threads

Meta is testing it in Australia and New Zealand.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A much-demanded feature is finally coming to Threads very soon, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed. A keyword search function is on the way. Until now, the search box has only been useful for looking up user accounts.

In fact, the company is already testing the function in Australia and New Zealand. It plans to roll out keyword search more broadly to English-speaking territories in short order. “We are actively listening to the community’s feedback and working on more features to improve the search experience,” Meta told TechCrunch.

A full-text search feature is seen as critical for Threads to challenge (or perhaps even supplant) X/Twitter as the go-to platform for public conversations, particularly around events that are happening in real-time. Threads is missing some other functions that could help it get to that point, such as a TweetDeck (sorry, XPro) equivalent, but being able to search for posts is vital. It's a key feature that could help Threads bring back some of the users who have drifted away after an initial spike in popularity.

To its credit, Meta has been quickly adding other important features to Threads over the last several weeks, including a full web version and a chronological feed of posts. So, other functions that users have been asking for may not be far behind.