Threads is readying a feature inspired by Bluesky’s Starter Packs, according to reporting by TechCrunch and others. Chris Messina, who invented the hashtag, posted a screenshot of the tool to the social media app. He also says you can see an early version of the tool yourself by pasting “installedbarcelona://recommended_follow_lists” into Safari on iOS if you have the latest Threads app. We gave this a shot and, lo and behold, it worked.
For those who have yet to wander over to Bluesky, Starter Packs are curated lists of people to follow that help newcomers get started on the app. These packs can be built in a number of different ways. Engadget has one with many of its writers and editors, myself included. Come for the promise of tech news, but stay for random photos of my cats.
The version likely coming to Threads looks to work in a similar way. The lists of users are “handpicked by people on Threads” and can be about pretty much anything. Messina showed off a list called “NBA Threads,” as seen above.
The feature has become so popular on Bluesky that there’s even a searchable database, complete with over 37,000 of these bundles of humans. The packs can also be shared directly in feeds, though we don’t know if Threads will allow that.
Bluesky has responded to this move with snark, writing on Threads that “if this app is going to keep copying our features, you might as well just join Bluesky.” For those who have been paying attention, Threads has been “paying homage” to all kinds of pre-existing Bluesky features in recent days and months. The platform recently rolled out custom feeds and the ability to change the default feed to people you follow. This is like Sega and Nintendo all over again, only with pithy messages instead of genre-defining gaming classics.
Why is Threads so eager to mimic some of Bluesky’s most popular features? Well, the latter has seen tremendous growth spikes over the last couple of months, recently hitting 20 million users. Folks are fleeing the sinking ship that is X in droves and looking for a replacement app. Threads wants to be the one. Bluesky also wants to be the one. You know the drill.
Threads may be acting like the underdog here by adopting some of Bluesky’s features, but it actually has a massive head start. The platform recently announced that it had over 35 million signups in November alone.
