Threads aims to be the application you look forward to launching each morning.

This is a selection from Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter focused on AI and the technology sector, published exclusively for The Verge subscribers weekly.

Overall, Meta’s Threads app experienced a remarkably successful year. It was Apple’s second-most-downloaded iOS application of the year, second only to ChatGPT. Threads now boasts 400 million monthly users and 150 million daily active participants.

This growth predominantly stems from Meta’s other services. “We do extensive work in Instagram and Facebook to highlight what’s happening on Threads,” Connor Hayes, the head of Threads, informed me this week. The strategy: promote personalized Threads content within your Instagram and Facebook timelines, encourage you to install the app, and eventually reduce your reliance on these prompts to engage with it regularly. “We employ various strategies to help users become less reliant on those promotions and naturally feel inclined to check the app each morning,” Hayes detailed.

Hayes, who played a pivotal role in the initial launch of Threads and was appointed its leader in September, is committed to defining the platform’s character more clearly. During our discussion, he expressed that the objective for Threads is to become “the go-to place on the internet for discussing current events.” Essentially, this translates to tackling topics one vertical at a time — sports, entertainment, news — and encouraging both creators and users to utilize the app more frequently.

Regarding competitors, Hayes is considering more than just X. “Reddit has a significant amount of engagement that mirrors the early days of Twitter,” he noted. “Discord hosts numerous large community chat groups.” He recognized Twitter, now X, as “the application that originated the foundational format,” but emphasized that the competition for real-time conversation is fierce.

Currently, there’s no direct means for creators to monetize on Threads. Hayes presents a different angle: Threads as a means to drive traffic to other platforms where creators can receive compensation.

The most straightforward illustration is podcasts. Threads recently introduced a functionality that allows for show and episode links from platforms like Spotify, enabling users to pin them on their profiles. Hayes stated that Threads is open to collaborations with other services like Substack and Patreon as well. However, there are no intentions to allow creators to charge for content directly on Threads or share ad revenue similar to YouTube.

For the moment, Threads is trialing advertisements in four countries, including the US, but the volume remains intentionally low, Hayes communicated. “We are progressively increasing the ad presence throughout the next year,” he mentioned, “but only as we ensure there’s sufficient value for users in the app to justify it.”

Threads is evaluating a new feature titled “Dear Algo” across several countries. Users can request to see more or less of a specific topic, share their algorithm preferences for others to use or adapt, and have their personalized feed modify according to the prompt for three days. “After a difficult loss for your sports team, you might say, don’t show me NFL-related content for three days,” Hayes remarked. “But come day four, you’ll be ready to return.”

The overarching message: comprehension of content has improved due to LLMs. “We can now identify not just that something pertains to basketball, but which specific game it references, such as the 1998 NBA Finals, and which player is making a shot for which team.” This specificity is what enables this functionality for algorithm steering. Hayes has been taken aback by the detail of early user requests with prompts such as, “show me additional football content, but exclude Patrick Mahomes.”

Threads continues to support federation with other applications like Mastodon, yet Hayes has stated it’s not a primary focus in their current plan. “We’re providing support and maintenance, but it isn’t the priority topic we’re discussing that will cause the app to gain significant traction,” he explained.

“From my extensive experience creating consumer products, I find it quite challenging to ensure these diverse platforms remain consistent on the same protocol over time,” he elaborated. “There will always be the dilemma these companies face regarding how much effort to invest in maintaining compatibility with this ecosystem versus progressing with their own initiatives and identifying what’s valuable.”

Threads was once ridiculed for its tendency to highlight outdated content. Presently, the app emphasizes recommending content from the previous 24 hours, according to Hayes. “If something is four or five days old, even if it’s exceptionally good, we likely won’t display it.”

In contrast to X, Hayes indicated that Threads is not actively attempting to onboard additional journalists and publishers. “We view it similarly to any other sector, recognizing that there are certain creators who excel in this area and possess extensive knowledge. There are consumers eager to engage with this content.” He clarified that Threads is not downgrading news, but it isn’t a current focal area.