The Threads app from Meta is testing a new feature that lets users cross-post content directly from Facebook. This functionality, once exclusive to Facebook and Instagram sharing, is being tested to enable simultaneous posting on both Facebook and Threads. 

This is both a good thing and a bad thing, because although the idea of posting to both platforms at one time in the same action seems like a very handy tool, but past attempts to do this in the past have had mixed results.

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 The reason why is because different social media platforms have different formats for the way that people post on them. What once worked on Twitter/X didn't translate very well on LinkedIn or Instagram. Each platform demands different types of content.

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Hootsuite once had a service that did this, and after some use I found that each platform demanded customizing to fit the platform. I ended up not using Hootsuite any more and just posted to each social media platform individually, to customize it to each platform. This boosted the engagement of these posts.

So the takeaway is: when posting to both Threads and Meta, think about how the content will appear in the feed of each platform. Some posts will work well, others might be too long or too short. Threads demands short form content that is quick and punchy. This can work on Facebook, but Facebook also includes long form content that is too long for Threads.

So far, this test is only US-based, and only supports sharing text and link posts from Facebook to Threads. You can't cross-post videos at this time. It's also opt-in: You have to choose to cross-post your content, it won't happen automatically.

Still, this development could greatly benefit creators who frequently post images or other media along with text, eliminating the need to post separately on multiple platforms. It also integrates Threads more closely with Meta’s broader app ecosystem, potentially increasing the app's user engagement. 

Given that Meta’s apps collectively reach nearly 4 billion users, even a minor percentage adopting this cross-posting feature could significantly expand the content available on Threads.

More Threads Features That Have Been Added recently:

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Threads has over 130 million active users, compared to X's 550 million.
  
  

• Meta is also testing other features for Threads, including a "trending topics" feature and a "Write with AI" writing assistant.
  
  

• Some users are concerned that cross-posting could lead to spam and a decline in the quality of content on Threads.

The introduction of cross-posting to Instagram, and the subsequent launch of Threads as a competitor to Twitter/X, highlighted Meta's strategy of using its vast network to quickly grow Threads. The platform saw a swift increase in users, reaching 100 million within five days of its launch, partly because it automatically connected new users with their Instagram contacts.

This isn't Threads' first experimentation with cross-posting. Previously, automatic sharing to Facebook and Instagram led to user dissatisfaction due to differing audiences across platforms, prompting Meta to introduce an option to disable automatic sharing.