You can now search Threads for signs of life

Thank the social media makers. Meta’s Threads is officially rolling out a keyword search feature in the United States, alongside many other countries including India, Canada, Mexico and the UK. This has been one of the most asked-for tools since the platform launched in July. Keyword search appeared last week as a beta in New Zealand and Australia, and it looks that beta was a success given today’s announcement.

Keyword search, known as hashtags or text search in some circles, is vital for connecting with communities and for following real-time events. Oddly, Threads is the first major Twitter/X competitor to integrate the feature, which could spell even more trouble for Elon Musk’s beleaguered social media site.

A Meta representative told Engadget that keyword search is being integrated into both mobile apps and the recently-launched web app, so you’ll have your pick of where to search for Star Trek fans or whatever it is you’re into. The company said it’s working on bringing the search function to other languages and countries in the near future. Before this update, you could only use search to look for active Threads accounts.

Meta has been aggressive about adding features to Threads, which is good because the app had an extremely strong start but has fizzled since the initial launch. Maybe this latest update will entice users to return to the service.