Hajra Naz
Meta is expanding the scope of its social network Threads by adding more topics to its relatively new communities feature, the company announced Monday. The move is part of a broader effort to keep conversations on Threads—and potentially pull engagement away from platforms like Reddit and X.
From Broad Topics to Team-Specific Spaces
Threads first introduced communities in October with more than 100 topic-based groups covering interests such as basketball, television, K-pop, books, and pop culture. With the latest update, the platform now hosts more than 200 communities.
The expansion includes more narrowly focused spaces, particularly around sports teams. New additions feature team-specific communities such as Lakers Threads, Knicks Threads, and Spurs Threads, signaling a push toward deeper, fandom-driven engagement rather than broad discussion alone.
Read More: Threads Users Can Now Filter and Approve Replies for Safer Chats
Testing Flairs for Identity and Context
Meta is also experimenting with flairs inside communities — a feature long associated with Reddit. Flairs allow users to display a customizable label beneath their username to add context to their posts.
For example, members of the NBA community can use flairs to show which team they support, while users in the books community might identify themselves as authors, reviewers, or readers. The goal is to make conversations more personal and easier to navigate.
Badges for Highly Engaged Members
In addition to flairs, Threads is testing a new “Champion” badge designed to recognize highly engaged community members. According to the company, badges are being awarded to a limited group of users who are both well-followed within a community and consistently active in conversations.
The badge system mirrors similar reputation mechanics used by Reddit and other community-driven platforms, where visible recognition is meant to encourage participation and reward quality contributions.
Growing User Base Fuels Feature Expansion
Threads, which competes with Elon Musk’s X as well as newer platforms like Bluesky, continues to grow rapidly. The company said the app surpassed 400 million users in August, just two years after launch.
Meta has also reported that more than 150 million people now use Threads daily, giving the platform a large audience to test new engagement features.
Read More: Threads Rolls Out Auto-Added Thread Counts on Posts
A Broader Push to Retain Users
Communities are part of a wider strategy to increase time spent on Threads and keep users coming back. In recent months, the platform has rolled out direct messages, group chats, ephemeral posts, and other features aimed at strengthening social connections and conversation quality.
By leaning further into community tools like flairs and engagement badges, Meta appears to be positioning Threads not just as a feed-based social app, but as a destination for ongoing, interest-based discussion.
