Meta’s popular Twitter clone on Threads.net is still adorned with a rotating galaxy, but that is set to change in the coming weeks, as indicated by a recent tweet from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In an enthusiastic tone, he announces that search and web functionalities will be introduced soon, praising the team’s swift pace in delivering these updates.

Taking a daring leap, Meta launched Threads as a stripped-down Twitter alternative with remarkable speed, while Twitter faced its own struggles.

Post by @zuck

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The risk may have paid off, with 100 million signups achieved faster than any other consumer software product in history, as noted by my colleague Alex Heath.

However, Reuters reports that over half of these users did not remain active on the platform. While this attrition is expected for any software, especially a buzzworthy, unfinished social media app, Mark Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the retention rate.

Nevertheless, Meta is now focused on rapidly implementing additional features. Recently, Threads introduced the Following feed, allowing users to see updates from the accounts they care about without relying solely on the company’s algorithms.

Among the sought-after features, a desktop web version has been a top priority. Adam Mosseri, the head of Threads and Instagram, has been repeatedly reassuring high-profile users on his replies page that they are actively working on it. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending more time on Threads when it becomes easily accessible from my work PC.

If Threads gains traction or continues to do so, a search function that can scour the content of tweets (not just individual user profiles) would be invaluable for journalists like myself. In the past, Twitter search has been instrumental in discovering numerous story leads and corroborating stories.