Meta’s social network Threads has introduced tags (without the hash symbol) globally. Following a testing phase in Australia last month, users worldwide can now utilize tags to categorize their posts. Unlike traditional hashtags, Threads allows users to employ phrases with spaces and special characters as tags, offering more flexibility in expression.

Each post on Threads can have only one tag to prevent tag spam. Users can click on a tag within a post to view all related posts in the search view. Alternatively, typing the tag in the search bar provides a quick way to explore all posts with that specific tag. While hashtags can still be manually added to posts, Meta hopes that this design will mitigate engagement hacking.

Although Threads lacks a trending section, users tapping on the tag button may encounter popular tags that can be easily added to their posts. The platform also enables users to report sensitive topics, including categories such as spam, bullying or harassment, scam or fraud, eating disorders, and hate speech and symbols.

However, some challenges remain, such as the absence of a trending section and the issue of similar hashtags. With the one-tag-per-post limit, posts may not reach the desired audience searching for alternative tags. For example, multiple variations of the NBA tag (e.g., NBAThread, NBA THreads) could lead to fragmented content discovery.

In the context of privacy and sensitivity, users have reported receiving warnings about certain tags being sensitive, although the threshold triggering such warnings remains unclear. Despite these challenges, Threads continues to evolve, recently expanding its search feature to “all languages” in all available countries. Additionally, there are reports of Threads launching in the European Union in compliance with regional regulations. App analytics firm Apptopia has also noted a recovery in Threads’ daily downloads after a temporary dip.