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Threads has announced a new way to recognize the best-performing posts in the app, with Gems, which will be awarded to posts and replies “that drive meaningful conversations.”
As explained by Threads: “If your post or reply is marked as a ‘Threads Gem,’ you’ll be notified and see the option to share a special post about it.”
Users will also be able to decline that recognition if they choose, although this could offer a simple way to encourage engagement and drive conversations in the app.
The feature was spotted in testing in August, with app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi sharing this image of what the Gems notification screen would look like:
Posts that are awarded a Gem will have a special icon displayed in-stream, highlighting the content as a key engagement driver in the app.
Threads said Gems will be selected automatically, based on a range of factors:
- Perspective: The post brings a fresh take and unique value to the discussion
- Discussion: The post sparks genuine back-and-forth dialogue that drives conversation
- Originality: The post is the creators’ own work, and “not something recycled from elsewhere online.” Posts also can’t be crossposted from another app.
Meta is using a systematic detection process, as opposed to human evaluation, and is awarding Gems based on an algorithm that will recognize the above elements.
Gems are only applicable to public posts, and Gems for replies only apply to direct replies to a post, not a reply to a reply.
This could be another way to spark in-app engagement. It’s somewhat similar to X’s recent “Bangers” promotion, in which X created a special account to recognize the most engaging posts in the app each month.
Except X only recognized the top bangers for a month, and then it never shared anything else. Maybe Threads will be more dedicated to its Gems, which will probably be easier to do, since the system will be based on automated recognition.
The risk, then, is that the automated system might highlight some offensive remarks or comments, which sparks conversation but probably won’t be what Meta wants to promote.
Presumably, Meta will have a human vetting process to avoid this, but it’ll be interesting to see what posts do get recognized, and to consider what that says about Threads discussions.
At this stage, only U.S. users will be eligible for Gems.