Instagram Threads feature update: GIFs, polls and more announced

In an effort to beat X, formerly known as Twitter, Meta’s Threads app has started rolling out GIFs and polls to its users. The features, which have been long-requested by users, were announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Threads.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased the new features through a post containing a GIF and another featuring a poll. The post with polls shows up to three options but you can include four if you want. There’s a real-time countdown timer to indicate how much time users have left to cast their votes.

To view the poll results, users must participate by casting their vote. Threads will send a notification to participants once the poll concludes. To add a GIF to a Threads post, users simply need to tap the new GIF icon in the post composer and search for a relevant image.
The addition of GIFs and polls is a significant step for Threads, as it brings the app closer to parity with X in terms of features. Meta has been aggressively investing in Threads in recent months, as it sees the app as a potential rival to X. In August, the company launched a web version of Threads and added a number of other features, including an edit button, profile switching, and way to view the posts you’ve liked.

The edit button on Threads is different from X’s edit button in two ways- first it’s free and second, Threads does not show the edit history of a post. X shows edit history to maintain transparency and curb misinformation.