Meta's Threads Introduces 'Ghost Posts' That Vanish After 24 Hours

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Platform debuts ephemeral content feature as it aims to encourage spontaneous sharing among 400 million users.

Meta rolled out a new disappearing posts feature for Threads on Monday, introducing what the company calls "ghost posts" that automatically archive after 24 hours in a bid to encourage more casual, unfiltered sharing on the platform.

The feature, now available to Threads' more than 400 million monthly users worldwide, allows people to share content without "the pressure of permanence or polish," according to Meta's official announcement.

Users can create ghost posts by toggling a ghost icon on the app's compose screen. After posting, the posts appear in timelines with a distinctive dotted conversation bubble. This differentiates them from permanent content.

Unlike standard posts, ghost posts route all replies directly to the original poster's direct messages (rather than displaying them publicly in the timeline). While other users can see that people have liked and replied to a ghost post through smiley-faced icons, only the poster can view the actual engagement numbers and identify who interacted with the content.

After the 24-hour window expires, ghost posts disappear from users' timelines but remain accessible to the original poster through an "archived" section in the settings menu.

Meta told TechCrunch the feature was designed to “encourage more low-stakes sharing within the feed.” The company said it expects users to be motivated to share unfiltered thoughts, engage in live threading, or experiment with different types of content through the temporary posting option.

However, ephemeral content on text-based social platforms has a mixed track record. Twitter experimented with a similar disappearing format called "Fleets" in 2020, presenting content as Stories that vanished after 24 hours. The company shuttered the feature less than a year later due to a lack of adoption.

The launch represents Meta's continued effort to iterate rapidly on Threads since its July 2023 debut. Recent additions include:

• Custom feeds
• Direct messaging capabilities
• Fediverse sharing that connects Threads to open social networks like Mastodon
• Text attachments supporting up to 10,000 characters

The platform has also introduced tools to hide spoilers and launched interest-based communities.

Despite Twitter's unsuccessful attempt, Meta appears confident in the potential for temporary content. The format has proven successful on Instagram and Facebook Stories, where ephemeral posts have become more popular than permanent grid posts on Instagram.