Meta has been conducting experiments for months to enable users to cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, its social networking platform that competes with X
Meta affirmed to TechCrunch that the feature has been officially implemented in all countries where Threads is accessible.
The new cross-posting capability is a component of Meta’s overarching objective to optimize the content that users share across its family of applications. For years, Meta has enabled users who are active on both platforms to share Facebook posts on Instagram and vice versa. In 2023, the organization also experimented with cross-posting by automatically displaying suggested Threads posts on Facebook and Instagram. (This option may be disabled at this time.)
Threads’ app, which recently surpassed 200 million active users, could be further enhanced by establishing a more direct connection to Meta’s extensive app ecosystem and its billions of users.
Instructions for cross-posting Instagram images to Threads
The new cross-posting feature on Instagram, initially made available as a test in early May, is an opt-in experience requiring users to activate the Threads sharing button when publishing an image. When users cross-post their Instagram posts, the caption is converted to text for the Threads post, and hashtags are converted to plain text instead.
Users may utilize the cross-post feature only once or establish automatic sharing to ensure that Threads are consistently cross-posted. The feature is accessible to all users worldwide on iOS and Android devices. Nevertheless, there is no option to cross-post Instagram Reels to Threads.
How to cross-post posts from Threads to Facebook
In late February, Facebook users began to experience threads of cross-posting experiments. In the same way, users can activate the Instagram cross-posting option and enable a new Threads option when composing a post. The Threads logo should be visible at the top, in addition to options such as “Add an Album” and “Only Me,” with the option to either “On” or “Off.”
The feature is exclusively applicable to text and link postings, not videos. The feature is accessible on Android and iOS devices and in all countries where Threads is available.
What is the purpose of cross-posting?
Content creators, social media managers, and business owners could simplify posting by cross-posting from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, sparing them valuable time and effort. Rather than generating distinct content for each platform, they can simultaneously engage multiple audiences with a single post.
Nevertheless, evaluating whether it is appropriate to distribute the same content across multiple platforms for specific posts is crucial, as they may not be well-suited for translation. For instance, a post on Instagram that contains numerous hashtags may appear peculiar on Threads due to its plain text format. Threads have identifiers; however, they do not employ the hash symbol.