Meta has announced a major expansion of Threads’ communities feature, growing the number of official interest-based groups from just over 100 to more than 200. Alongside the expansion, the company is also testing new community-focused tools designed to encourage participation and identity within these groups.
If Threads is trying to feel less like a generic timeline and more like a place where people actually stick around, this is a meaningful step in that direction.
Communities on Threads Are Getting More Specific
When Threads first introduced communities last year, the idea was simple. Combine topic tags with custom feeds, then surface them across search and timelines using blue labels like “AI Threads” or “NBA Threads.”
Now, Meta is adding far more granularity.
Instead of broad categories, users can join narrower, interest-driven spaces. Sports fans are a clear example as outlined by Meta. NBA Threads is no longer the end of the line. Users can now participate in team-specific communities like Lakers Threads, Knicks Threads, or Spurs Threads, making discussions more focused and easier to follow.
The same approach is being applied across entertainment, hobbies, and culture, as Threads leans harder into interest-based discovery.
New Badges and FlairAre Coming to Select Users
Alongside the expanded community list, Meta is quietly testing two new features aimed at rewarding engagement.
The first is community champion badges. These highlight well-followed users who actively contribute to conversations and help keep specific communities alive. Think of them as visible signals of influence inside a niche, rather than across the entire platform.
The second feature is community flair. This lets users display a short interest tag within a community. For example, someone posting in Book Threads might show a genre preference like sci-fi or nonfiction next to their name.
Community champions can define which flair options are available, and members can choose one that appears on all of their posts within that group.
Threads Keeps Inching Toward Identity-Based Social
None of these changes reinvent Threads overnight, but they do point to a clearer strategy. Instead of chasing viral chaos, Meta seems increasingly interested in helping users define who they are and what they care about on the platform.
More communities, clearer signals, and visible roles could make Threads feel less transient and more personal over time. Whether users embrace it at scale is the real question.
