Weaves adds Live Chats to enhance real-time engagement

Threads is launching “Live Chats” to allow real-time conversations during cultural events, the Meta-owned platform announced on Wednesday. The company says the idea behind this new feature is to help make the app feel more timely and relevant.

Live chats start first in the NBA Threads community during the Playoffs. Media personalities, including Malika Andrews, Rachel Nichols, and Da Kid Gowie, will host Live Chats during the games.

The company told TechCrunch via email that it initially rolled out the feature to a small group of developers. Not all users will be able to start Live Chat right away, but Meta plans to expand access over time.

Users can send messages, photos, videos, links, and emoji reactions. Up to 150 participants can send messages in a chat. Once this limit is reached, additional users can view the chat, reply to messages, and participate in votes in “spectator” mode.

When Threads first launched, it lagged behind X when it came to relevance and timeliness; it was difficult to follow what was happening in the world right now. IX had already established itself as a global “town square”, and was known for its real-time commentary and breaking news. Threads, on the other hand, struggled because it lacked many of the features that X had, such as robust search, hashtags, and a chronological feed.

Over time, Threads built its own platform with these tools, and now it’s looking to better compete with X by adding a feature that even Elon Musk doesn’t have, an app designed for real-time interaction.

“It’s a new way to build community with others around things they’re interested in like an album drop or a big game as it goes on,” explained Meta in a blog post. “Live Chats are an extension of what’s already happening in Series — a new way for creators and fans to connect about things that matter to them in real time. Live Chats are more powerful than traditional group chats because they’re designed for real-time conversations in cultural moments as they happen.”

Users can join Live Chats from the top of the Community feed, through shared posts in their main feed, or by tapping the red live ring around the host’s profile picture. Although Live Chats end after a certain period of time, they remain open and publicly available after they end, Meta said.

Threads will automatically detect and demote messages that violate its policies, and anyone in the conversation can report the messages, the company told TechCrunch. Additionally, hosts have real-time moderation controls and can demote users to spectator mode or remove them from the chat.

As for the future, Meta says it will update Live Chat with several new features, including collaborative hosting, real-time play-by-play updates, lock screen widgets that highlight live chat activity, and the ability to quote and share chat messages directly from the Threads feed.

Although Meta noted that this feature could be used for things like album drops, it’s possible that Live Chats could be used in many other settings – such as the upcoming Fifa World Cup matches, award games, TV finals, and more.