Threads Rolls Out Long-Form Posts with Rich Text Formatting
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Meta’s Threads microblogging network now allows users to make long-form posts via “text attachments.” The social platform had previously limited posts to 500 characters per post.
Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Threads was “testing a new feature that makes it easy to share long-form text on the social network.” On Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the new feature is now available to all users.
The expanded post feature, first spotted by app researcher Radu Oncescu, enables iOS users to avoid the practice of stringing together multiple posts that exceed the 500-character limit (although, let’s face it, that will only serve to shrink the number of multiple posts for some users).
Users can attach a formatted block of text to a regular post, which can include formatting such as bold, italics, and other styles, instead of just plain text. Once it is posted, the attached text appears in a gray box, which can be expanded by tapping the “Read more” button. Currently, the feature doesn’t support embedded media or links.
In a Meta Newsroom post, the company confirmed the 10,000-character limit to attachments, and added that aside from bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough, users can also include a link to content on other social platforms at the end of the attached text:
Any attached text can be read directly in Threads to help you convey more complex perspectives, draw your audience in, and promote your work. If you’re sharing or previewing content from other platforms on Threads, you can include a link to the full content in the body of your main post.
Threads describes the new feature as something that will allow users to “attach longer text and get creative with styling tools to share deeper thoughts, news snippets, book excerpts, and more.”
The new expanded post feature is apparently available to all users, rather than an added feature for paid users, like a similar feature on X, where posts are still capped at the usual 280 characters unless the user is a premium subscriber, who is allowed to share posts of up to 25,000 characters.
Meta says the new feature is part of a broader strategy designed to increase Threads’ appeal to creators. The company says it will “continue gathering feedback on how to improve” the platform’s features.
Techcrunch shared a Threads post by user Robert P. Nickson that used the feature to demonstrate what it looks like. As shown in the screenshot below, a snippet of the long-form text is displayed in a gray box alongside the post, allowing users to click on it to view the full content.
For those unfamiliar with Threads, it’s a microblogging social media platform operated by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Threads requires an Instagram account to access the service, which offers integration between the two platforms. When Threads launched in July 2023, it attracted more than 100 million users in its first five days of availability, surpassing a previous record set by ChatGPT.
Threads is a competitor to Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) short messaging service. When Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, Meta employees began exploring adding text-based functionality to Instagram. The new feature, called Instagram Notes, rolled out in December 2022. Meta developers then began developing a separate app that would focus on text-based posts.
Development on the new app, initially known internally as “Project 92,” began in January 2023, and it was officially launched to the public on July 5, 2023. The app was initially available in 100 countries, but its European Union launch was delayed as the company awaited further clarification from the European Commission regarding the service’s data collection policies.
