Three years ago, Meta launched Threads as a low-priority text-based app, and Black users are leaving their mark.
Three years ago, Meta launched Threads as a relatively low-priority microblogging or text-based platform in response to X, shortly after Elon Musk’s takeover kicked off a mass exodus from the site formerly known as Twitter.
In the time since, the platform has grown steadily, surpassing 500 million monthly active users and emerging as one of X’s biggest competitors. Like X before it, however, its rise has not come without Black users leaving their mark.
Many wondered whether Threads could replicate what Black users had cultivated on Black Twitter. It decidedly hasn’t done that, but it has done something else entirely. While Black Twitter often felt like one big party happening in the same living room, Black Threads has developed into something less conjoined and less one-note. Through its push toward Reddit-like communities and interest-based conversations, the platform has put on display, in real time, just how much Black people are not a monolith.
Rather than one sprawling digital gathering place, Threads has given way to a wide variety of thriving subcommunities where Black writers, gamers, beauty enthusiasts, food lovers, entrepreneurs, readers, travelers, fitness buffs, and countless others gather around shared interests as much as shared identity. Black women swap career advice and relationship stories. Readers trade book recommendations. Gamers debate the latest releases. Beauty creators compare products and techniques. Film lovers dissect the newest releases, at times with the filmmakers themselves, while home cooks exchange recipes and kitchen tips.
These conversations occasionally overlap, particularly around major cultural moments, but for the most part, they flourish in their own corners of the app, creating an ecosystem of interconnected communities rather than one singular Black online experience. In some instances, they are even leading to connection off the app. A DMV Threads conversation about Black pickleball clubs made its way off the app into an email chain and a successful first meeting in Columbia, Maryland. Other posts asking if there are any XYZ in various cities often quickly become filled with decent responses.
Part of the appeal, particularly for Black users, has been the platform’s emphasis on discovery and customization. Threads has increasingly leaned into dedicated communities, surfaced popular conversations through topic feeds, rewarded active contributors with creator badges, and given users more control over the algorithms that shape their timelines. For many, that has meant intentionally curating feeds that reflect their interests and identities. A common refrain on the platform has become users posting messages directed at the algorithm itself: “Dear Algo, I only want to see content by Black people,” followed by a list of interests ranging from Black romance novels and natural hair to HBCUs, gaming, travel, and entrepreneurship.
Connor Hayes, the head of Threads, told The New York Times in a recent interview that the platform has grown around a guiding principle: “Follow the intent of users.”
Part of that philosophy has meant creating dedicated channels for many of the communities users naturally gravitate toward. There are channels devoted to everything from “The Real Housewives” to “Love Island,” giving fans centralized spaces to continue conversations. While there isn’t yet an official “Black Threads” channel devoted to Black culture, a glance at the tag on the platform on any given day will quickly reveal a steady stream of conversations about Black entertainment, politics, beauty, fashion, current events, relationships, and everyday life. There are also, of course, posts tied to the color black, comedy, and other unrelated topics under the topic, but discussions centered on Black culture consistently dominate the feed.
Hayes also told The New York Times that Meta’s long-term goal is to grow Threads to one billion users, a milestone that would place it ahead of Snapchat. As the company continues building around the behaviors and communities users have created, it wouldn’t be surprising to eventually see Black Threads evolve into an official destination of its own. After all, if the platform’s guiding principle is following the intent of users, Black users have spent the past three years showing exactly what their intentions are.
