Is threads correctly reading the room?

By Dario Betti, CEO, Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF)

Meta’s Threads has quietly released an option to allow all users to send direct messages to each other; it is testing if Threads could be turned into a messaging app. But this isn’t innovation, it’s survival. Meta is betting that users want tighter access over larger audiences, and that the social currency of the 2020s isn’t likes, it’s direct reach.

The era of private-first social

Threads doesn’t just want to be a feed-based app; it wants to anchor itself in the private messaging universe. This decision isn’t made in a vacuum. The numbers tell the story: the centre of gravity in social media has shifted from public posts to private conversations. According to GWI’s 2025 global study, 58% of users report feeling “overexposed” when posting publicly, and according to Pew and Snap’s joint 2024 survey, 70% of Gen Z said they now prefer connecting in private chats over posting to feeds. Meta itself admits that on Instagram, half of all time spent in the app happens inside DMs, not scrolling posts. Meanwhile, WhatsApp (Meta’s global messaging powerhouse with 3.2 billion monthly actives) processes 100 billion messages every single day.

Public timelines, once the heart of “social networking,” are being abandoned in favour of more intimate spaces. Privacy scandals, bullying, fake posting, over commercialisation of boards messages, and algorithmic chaos have driven users to interact in smaller circles. Meta is reacting to numbers that show feeds are for discovery, but retention happens in DMs.

While Threads grew healthily with around 175 million monthly users as of mid-2025, that’s far from Instagram’s 2.4 billion or TikTok’s 1.8 billion. Meta needs to hook Threads users into habits that keep them checking in. The app won’t survive if posting to the feed is the only action people take.

Easier networking, real conversations

The upside is obvious. Removing the “follow-first” barrier creates doors for connection that didn’t exist before. If you want to collaborate with another creator – DM them. If you want to thank someone for their insight without looking performative in public comments – DM them. For small businesses experimenting with Threads, open requests could double as lightweight customer service or lead generation.

Creators have proven the power of private messaging elsewhere: research from Fanfix shows that direct message access can increase fan loyalty by 2.3x compared to engagement in public comments. And even LinkedIn admits that 43% of its networking activity now happens through private messages, not posts.

If Threads can cultivate that same dynamic—a halfway house between the town square and your phonebook (think “LinkedIn-lite” but inside Meta’s ecosystem)—it could carve itself into a niche that X and TikTok don’t own … yet.

The Risk

But let’s not pretend this is all easy. Open inboxes bring problems: X found in 2023 that 60–70% of DM requests were spam or low-value messages, and Instagram has had to roll out increasingly sophisticated AI filters just to protect users, especially women and teens, from harassment and scams.

Threads says there will be controls: a request folder, block features, user settings. But controls are reactive, not preventative. The onus falls on users to sift through noise, and history shows that enthusiasm fades quickly when inboxes become graveyards of half-hearted pitches and automated junk. The danger isn’t just abuse – it’s exhaustion. People will stop checking requests altogether.

That’s why Threads’ success hinges on how well its AI moderation works from day one. If the junk is kept in check, users may lean in. If not, it might backfire. 

Meta’s bigger play

Pull back and the strategy gets clearer. Meta doesn’t just want Threads to survive; it wants Threads to slot into its messaging meta-structure:

• WhatsApp is for personal and global peer-to-peer.
• Messenger is for families and aging groups (plus it has a USA flavour) 
• Instagram DMs dominate creator-to-fan engagement.
• Threads could become the “professional + idea” messaging layer (between X newsy and LinkedIn community options).

And if Meta eventually activates messaging interoperability between Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads (a project it’s been quietly building for years) suddenly Threads users aren’t stuck with a 175M cap on reach. Their inboxes could become portals into Meta’s full 5+ billion user messaging network worldwide. That’s the long game.

The impact

Threads' open DMs signal a "private-first" communication shift. This could boost CPaaS by offering a wider and yet more fragmented market of messaging app potentially available to enterprise communication. This drives CPaaS market growth, emphasising AI, personalisation, and compliance. However, the enlarged Meta APIs could become a commercial powerhouse challenging some of integration that CPaaS offer themselves (from targeting, management, and reporting). The business messaging landscape is changing fast; soon commercial models might also be affected. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dario Betti is CEO of MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) a global trade body established in 2000 and headquartered in the UK with members across the world. As the voice of the mobile ecosystem, it focuses on cross-industry best practices, anti-fraud and monetisation. The Forum, which celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2025, provides its members with global and cross-sector platforms for networking, collaboration and advancing industry solutions.  

Web: https://mobileecosystemforum.com/

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